Central European Time


Central European Time is a standard time observed in Central as well as parts of Western and Southeast Europe, which is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. The time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00. It covers most of continental Europe and it has been adopted by several African countries where it is known under various other names.
CET is also known as Middle European Time and by colloquial names that reference major European cities such as Amsterdam Time, Berlin Time, Brussels Time, Budapest Time, Madrid Time, Paris Time, Stockholm Time, Rome Time, Prague time, Warsaw Time or Romance Standard Time.
The 15th meridian east is the central axis per UTC+01:00 in the world system of time zones.
Currently, all member countries of the European Union observe summer time, from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October.
Countries within the CET area switch to Central European Summer Time for the summer.
The next change to CET will occur on 25 October 2026.
In Africa, UTC+01:00 is called West Africa Time, where it is used by several countries, year round.
Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia also refer to it as Central European Time.

Usage

Usage in Europe

Current usage

As of 2017, Central European Time is currently used in Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Vatican City.

History

After World War II Monaco, Andorra and Gibraltar implemented CET.
Portugal used CET in the years 1966-1976 and 1992-1996.
;United Kingdom
The time around the world is based on Universal Coordinated Time which is roughly synonymous with Greenwich Mean Time. From late March to late October, clocks in the United Kingdom are put forward by one hour for British Summer Time. Since 1997, most of the European Union aligned with the British standards for BST.
In 1968 there was a three-year experiment called British Standard Time, when the UK and Ireland experimentally employed British Summer Time all year round; clocks were put forward in March 1968 and not put back until October 1971.
Central European Time is sometimes referred to as continental time in the UK.

Other countries

Several African countries use UTC+01:00 all year long, where it is known as West Africa Time, although Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia use the term Central European Time despite being in North Africa.
Between 2005 and 2008, Tunisia observed daylight saving time. Libya also used CET during the years 1951-1959, 1982-1989, 1996-1997 and 2012-2013.
For other countries see UTC+01:00 and West Africa Time.

Discrepancies between official CET and geographical CET

ColourLegal time vs local mean time
1 h ± 30 min behind
0 h ± 30 min
1 h ± 30 min ahead
2 h ± 30 min ahead
3 h ± 30 min ahead

[Image:Tzdiff-Europe-winter.png|thumb|300px|European winter]
[Image:Tzdiff-Europe-summer.png|thumb|300px|European summer]
The criteria for drawing time zones is based on many factors including: legal, political, economic, and physical or geographic. Consequently, time zones rarely adhere to meridian lines. The CET time zone, were it drawn by purely geographical terms, would consist of exactly the area between meridians 7°30′ E and 22°30′ E. As a result, there are European locales that despite lying in an area with a "physical" or "nominal" UTC+01:00 time, actually use another time zone. Conversely, there are European areas that have gone for UTC+01:00, even though their "physical" time zone is UTC, UTC−01:00, or UTC+02:00. On the other hand, people in Spain still usually have work and meal hours one hour later than France and Germany despite sharing the same time zone. Historically Gibraltar maintained UTC+01:00 all year until the opening of the land border with Spain in 1982, when it followed its neighbour and introduced CEST. The following is a list of such "incongruences":

Areas within [UTC+01:00] longitudes using other time zones

These areas are between 7°30′ E and 22°30′ E

Areas using [UTC+02:00]

Areas outside [UTC+01:00] longitudes using [UTC+01:00] time

These areas are either west of 7°30′ E or east of 22°30′ E

Areas between 22°30′ W and 7°30′ W (nominal [UTC−01:00])

  • The westernmost part of mainland Spain ; Cape Finisterre and nearby points in Galicia, at 9°18′ W, are the westernmost places of CET in Spain.
  • The Norwegian island of Jan Mayen lies entirely within this area and extends nearly as far west as Cape Finisterre, with its western tip at 9°5′ W and its eastern tip at 7°56′ W.
  • Western Morocco including the city of Casablanca, at 7°35′ W. CET usage in Morocco extends as west as 13°10′ W.
  • The entirety of Western Sahara with its western tip at 17°6′ W and its eastern tip at 8°40′ W.

Areas between 7°30′ W and 7°30′ E (nominal [UTC+00:00])

Areas between 22°30′ E and 37°30′ E (nominal [UTC+02:00])

Image:Petsamo.png|thumb|Map of Petsamo area in northern Finland/Soviet Union/Russia. The green area is the Finnish part of the Rybachi peninsula which was ceded to the Soviet Union after the Winter War. The Red area is the Jäniskoski-Niskakoski area ceded to the USSR in 1947.
The Norwegian–Russian and the Polish-Belarusian border are the only places where CET borders Moscow time, resulting in a two hours time change for the travellers crossing that border.