diff --git a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/content/DCDate.java b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/content/DCDate.java
index bfe418dec2..0d677f96d6 100644
--- a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/content/DCDate.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/content/DCDate.java
@@ -82,6 +82,9 @@ public class DCDate
     // UTC timezone
     private static final TimeZone utcZone = TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC");
 
+    // local timezone
+    private static final TimeZone localZone = new GregorianCalendar().getTimeZone();
+
     // Full ISO 8601 is e.g. "2009-07-16T13:59:21Z"
     private static final SimpleDateFormat fullIso = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'");
     static { fullIso.setTimeZone(utcZone); }
@@ -182,18 +185,36 @@ public class DCDate
             date = tryParse(fullIso3, fromDC);
         if (date == null)
         {
+            // NOTE: move GMT date to local midnight when granularity is coarse
             date = tryParse(dateIso, fromDC);
-            granularity = DateGran.DAY;
+            if (date != null)
+            {
+                long ldate = date.getTime();
+                date = new Date(ldate - localZone.getOffset(ldate));
+                granularity = DateGran.DAY;
+            }
         }
         if (date == null)
         {
+            // NOTE: move GMT date to local midnight when granularity is coarse
             date = tryParse(yearMonthIso, fromDC);
-            granularity = DateGran.MONTH;
+            if (date != null)
+            {
+                long ldate = date.getTime();
+                date = new Date(ldate - localZone.getOffset(ldate));
+                granularity = DateGran.MONTH;
+            }
         }
         if (date == null)
         {
+            // NOTE: move GMT date to local midnight when granularity is coarse
             date = tryParse(yearIso, fromDC);
-            granularity = DateGran.YEAR;
+            if (date != null)
+            {
+                long ldate = date.getTime();
+                date = new Date(ldate - localZone.getOffset(ldate));
+                granularity = DateGran.YEAR;
+            }
         }
 
         if (date == null)
@@ -249,14 +270,16 @@ public class DCDate
         return toStringInternal();
     }
 
+    // When granularity is "day" or more, show the _local-time_ day because
+    // when the granularity was coarse the local time value was set.
     private synchronized String toStringInternal()
     {
         if (granularity == DateGran.YEAR)
-            return yearIso.format(calendar.getTime());
+            return String.format("%4d", getYear());
         else if (granularity == DateGran.MONTH)
-            return yearMonthIso.format(calendar.getTime());
+            return String.format("%4d-%02d", getYear(), getMonth());
         else if (granularity == DateGran.DAY)
-            return dateIso.format(calendar.getTime());
+            return String.format("%4d-%02d-%02d", getYear(), getMonth(), getDay());
         else
             return fullIso.format(calendar.getTime());
     }
@@ -502,6 +525,8 @@ public class DCDate
     /**
      * Simple test program
      * Usage:  java org.dspace.content.DCdate [DCDate | -l yyyy [mm [dd ..]]] ]
+     *  where "DCDate" is the kind of value that would be in metadata,
+     *  e.g. "2006", "2006-02-03", etc.
      *  (-l form tests local time parsing)
      * Default is to use current time.
      */
diff --git a/dspace-xmlui/dspace-xmlui-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/xmlui/aspect/submission/submit/DescribeStep.java b/dspace-xmlui/dspace-xmlui-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/xmlui/aspect/submission/submit/DescribeStep.java
index 808896acdc..85d11609b0 100644
--- a/dspace-xmlui/dspace-xmlui-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/xmlui/aspect/submission/submit/DescribeStep.java
+++ b/dspace-xmlui/dspace-xmlui-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/xmlui/aspect/submission/submit/DescribeStep.java
@@ -579,9 +579,9 @@ public class DescribeStep extends AbstractSubmissionStep
                         {
                                 DCDate dcDate = new DCDate(dcValue.value);
 
-                                year.addInstance().setValue(String.valueOf(dcDate.getYearGMT()));
-                                month.addInstance().setOptionSelected(dcDate.getMonthGMT());
-                                day.addInstance().setValue(String.valueOf(dcDate.getDayGMT()));
+                                year.addInstance().setValue(String.valueOf(dcDate.getYear()));
+                                month.addInstance().setOptionSelected(dcDate.getMonth());
+                                day.addInstance().setValue(String.valueOf(dcDate.getDay()));
                                 fullDate.addInstance().setValue(dcDate.toString());
                         }
                 }
@@ -589,15 +589,15 @@ public class DescribeStep extends AbstractSubmissionStep
                 {
                         DCDate dcDate = new DCDate(dcValues[0].value);
 
-                        year.setValue(String.valueOf(dcDate.getYearGMT()));
-                        month.setOptionSelected(dcDate.getMonthGMT());
+                        year.setValue(String.valueOf(dcDate.getYear()));
+                        month.setOptionSelected(dcDate.getMonth());
                         
                         // Check if the day field is not specified, if so then just
                         // put a blank value in instead of the wiered looking -1.
-                        if (dcDate.getDayGMT() == -1)
+                        if (dcDate.getDay() == -1)
                                 day.setValue("");
                         else
-                                day.setValue(String.valueOf(dcDate.getDayGMT()));
+                                day.setValue(String.valueOf(dcDate.getDay()));
                 }
         }
         
diff --git a/dspace/CHANGES b/dspace/CHANGES
index a47a576e23..3ab4f661ae 100644
--- a/dspace/CHANGES
+++ b/dspace/CHANGES
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@
  - [DS-389] Misleading label: "Submit to This Collection"
 
 (Larry Stone)
+ - [DS-393] Fix DCDate and submission timezone bugs that changed date on page reload
  - [DS-377] Add META tags identifying DSpace source version
  - [DS-373] Fix "Letter" link URLs in 2nd-stage Browse
  - [DS-294] Add preferred language setting to Edit Profile page in XMLUI