EU Daylight Saving Time

European Union Summer Time

EU - European Union - Winter / Summer Clock Changes

This applies to most states in Europe even those not in the European Economic Union (EU).

NB In the United Kingdom Summer Time is referred to as British Summer Time (BST).

EU Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time) Rule

• Start: Last Sunday in March
• End: Last Sunday in October
• Time: 1.00 am (01:00) Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

Since 1996 all clocks in Europe have changed on same date.

Source EU: EU Summer time arrangements

Europe - Standard Time Zones

Most European countries follow EU directives for time-keeping.

There are three different time zones across the EU:

Western Europe Time (Standard Time = GMT)

United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal

Central Europe Time   (Standard Time = GMT+1)

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden

Non-EU: Norway, Switzerland

Eastern Europe Time (Standard Time = GMT + 2)

Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania

Non-EU: Belarus, Moldova, Turkey, Ukraine

Reference

Source: European Union

Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on summer-time arrangements (Directive 2000/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 January 2001 on summer-time arrangements)

Source: EU Press Release

Directive Document (needs Adobe Acrobat reader)

Main Points:

"to fix the dates and times when the summer-time period will begin and end after 2001 throughout the EU, and to establish the arrangements from 2002"

"summer-time arrangements for an unspecified period"

"set the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October as the fixed date"

"at 1.00 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time"

Article 2: From 2002 onwards, the summer-time period shall begin, in every Member State, at 1.00 a.m., Greenwich Mean Time, on the last Sunday in March.

Article 3: From 2002 onwards, the summer-time period shall end, in every Member State, at 1.00 a.m., Greenwich Mean Time, on the last Sunday in October.

EU Official Time Arrangement Documents

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32000L0084&model=guichett

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32000L0084:EN:HTML

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2006:061:0002:0002:EN:PDF 

UK Government Documents on Summer Time

UK Government DTi: www.dti.gov.uk/employment/bank-public-holidays/bst/page12528.html