diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 05503253..62059d12 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -329,10 +329,39 @@ packages:
 
 **Docker builds:**
 
-For Docker packages, leeway automatically enables BuildKit (`DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1`) and exports `SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH`. For deterministic Docker images, see PR #285 which passes the value as a build arg (requires `ARG SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH` in Dockerfiles).
+For Docker packages, leeway automatically enables BuildKit (`DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1`) and exports `SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH`. Additionally, leeway passes `SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH` as a build arg to enable deterministic image timestamps.
 
 BuildKit is the default builder since Docker Engine v23.0 and is always used in Docker Desktop.
 
+**Dockerfile requirements for deterministic images:**
+
+Dockerfiles MUST declare the build arg for BuildKit to use the timestamp for image metadata:
+
+```dockerfile
+FROM alpine:3.18
+ARG SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
+COPY app /usr/local/bin/app
+```
+
+With the `ARG SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH` declaration, BuildKit (>= v0.13) automatically uses the timestamp for:
+- Layer creation timestamps
+- Image config `created` timestamp
+- History timestamps
+- OCI annotations
+
+Without the ARG declaration, images will have non-deterministic timestamps even though leeway sets the environment variable.
+
+For multi-stage builds, declare the ARG in each stage:
+
+```dockerfile
+FROM golang:1.21 AS builder
+ARG SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
+RUN go build -o app
+
+FROM alpine:3.18
+ARG SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
+COPY --from=builder /app /app
+```
 ## Package Variants
 Leeway supports build-time variance through "package variants". Those variants are defined on the workspace level and can modify the list of sources, environment variables and config of packages.
 For example consider a `WORKSPACE.YAML` with this variants section:
diff --git a/pkg/leeway/build.go b/pkg/leeway/build.go
index 1af3e351..f11d71b4 100644
--- a/pkg/leeway/build.go
+++ b/pkg/leeway/build.go
@@ -1992,6 +1992,8 @@ func (p *Package) buildDocker(buildctx *buildContext, wd, result string) (res *p
 		buildcmd = append(buildcmd, "--build-arg", fmt.Sprintf("DEP_%s=%s", arg, val))
 	}
 	buildcmd = append(buildcmd, "--build-arg", fmt.Sprintf("__GIT_COMMIT=%s", p.C.Git().Commit))
+	// Pass SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH for deterministic Docker image timestamps
+	buildcmd = append(buildcmd, "--build-arg", fmt.Sprintf("SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=%d", mtime))
 	if cfg.Squash {
 		buildcmd = append(buildcmd, "--squash")
 	}
@@ -2219,7 +2221,11 @@ func (p *Package) buildDocker(buildctx *buildContext, wd, result string) (res *p
 
 		// Add PostProcess to create structured metadata file
 		res.PostProcess = func(buildCtx *buildContext, pkg *Package, buildDir string) error {
-			return createDockerExportMetadata(buildDir, version, cfg)
+			mtime, err := pkg.getDeterministicMtime()
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("failed to get deterministic mtime: %w", err)
+			}
+			return createDockerExportMetadata(buildDir, version, cfg, mtime)
 		}
 
 		// Add subjects function for provenance generation
@@ -2365,11 +2371,11 @@ type DockerImageMetadata struct {
 }
 
 // createDockerExportMetadata creates metadata file for exported Docker images
-func createDockerExportMetadata(wd, version string, cfg DockerPkgConfig) error {
+func createDockerExportMetadata(wd, version string, cfg DockerPkgConfig, mtime int64) error {
 	metadata := DockerImageMetadata{
 		ImageNames:   cfg.Image,
 		BuiltVersion: version,
-		BuildTime:    time.Now(),
+		BuildTime:    time.Unix(mtime, 0),
 		CustomMeta:   cfg.Metadata,
 	}