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Central European Time

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Time in Europe:
Light Blue Western European Time / Greenwich Mean Time (UTC)
Blue Western European Time / Greenwich Mean Time (UTC)
Western European Summer Time / British Summer Time / Irish Standard Time (UTC+1)
Red Central European Time (UTC+1)
Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
Yellow Eastern European Time / Kaliningrad Time (UTC+2)
Ochre Eastern European Time (UTC+2)
Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)
Green Moscow Time / Turkey Time (UTC+3)
Turquoise Armenia Time / Azerbaijan Time / Georgia Time / Samara Time (UTC+4)
▉▉▉▉ Pale colours: Standard time observed all year
▉▉▉ Dark colours: Summer time observed

Central European Time (CET) is one of the names of the time zone that is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in most European and some North African countries.

Its time offset is normally UTC+1. During daylight saving time, Central European Summer Time (CEST) is used instead (UTC+2). The current time offset is UTC+1.

Usage

Central European Time usage in Europe

The following countries and territories use Central European Time during the winter only, between 1:00 UTC on the last Sunday of October and 1:00 UTC on the last Sunday of March:

Before World War II, Lithuania used CET (MET) in the years 1920–40. During the war Germany implemented this time in all occupied territories. In France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg CET was kept. After the war Monaco, Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar implemented CET.

Ireland and the United Kingdom experimentally adopted CET in the years 1968–71; however, this experiment proved unpopular and short-lived, mainly due to the increased number of road accidents (many involving children walking to school) in the dark winter mornings. Portugal used CET in the years 1966–76 and 1992–96.

Central European Time usage in Africa

Algeria uses Central European Time throughout the year, Tunisia only in winter.

For other counties that use UTC+1, see also West Africa Time.

Anomalies

Color Legal time vs local mean time
0 h ± 30 m
1 h ± 30 m ahead
2 h ± 30 m ahead
3 h ± 30 m ahead


Since political, in addition to purely geographical, criteria are used in the drawing of time zones, it follows that actual time zones do not precisely adhere to meridian lines. The CET (UTC+1) time zone, were it drawn by purely geographical terms, would consist of exactly the area between meridians 7°30′ W and 22°30′ E. As a result, there are European locales that despite lying in an area with a "physical" UTC+1 time, actually use another time zone (UTC+2 in particular – there are no "physical" UTC+1 areas that employ UTC); contrariwise, there are European areas that have gone for UTC+1, even though their "physical" time zone is UTC (typically), UTC-1 (westernmost Spain), or UTC+2 (e.g. the very easternmost parts of Norway, Poland, and Serbia). Following is a list of such "incongruences":

Gibraltar maintained UTC+1 all year until the opening of the land frontier with Spain in 1982 when it followed its neighbour and introduced CEST.

Areas located within UTC+1 longitudes

Areas between 7°30′ E and 22°30′ E ("physical" UTC+1)


Areas located outside UTC+1 longitudes using UTC+1 time

Areas between 22°30′ W and 7°30′ W ("physical" UTC-1)

Areas between 7°30′ W and 7°30′ E ("physical" UTC)

Areas between 22°30′ E and 37°30' ("physical" UTC+2)

  • The easternmost part of the Republic of Macedonia, including the city of Strumica
  • The easternmost part of Serbia, in the Pirot District, including the city of Pirot
  • The easternmost tips of Hungary and Slovakia, bordering to the north and south respectively the Ukrainian Transcarpathian Oblast (Zakarpattia Oblast), a bit to the east of Vásárosnamény, Hungary – Uzhhorod, Ukraine (both at 22°18′ E) line
  • The easternmost part of Poland, including the cities of Lublin and Białystok
  • The northeast of Sweden, in the Norrbotten province, including the cities of Kalix and Haparanda
  • The northeast of Norway, lying north of Finland, roughly coinciding with the county of Finnmark; for instance Vadsø, the capital of Finnmark, has a longitude of 23°49′ E. Actually, the easternmost town in Norway, Vardø, lies at 30°51′ E, which is so far east, so as to be east even of the central meridian of EET (UTC+2), i.e. east of Istanbul and Alexandria. The sun reaches its highest point at 10:56 (when not DST).
    It is also interesting to note that the Norwegian-Russian border (incl. border passings such as Kirkenes) is the only place where CET (UTC+1) borders Moscow time (UTC+3), resulting in a two hours time change for the passenger crossing that border. More so, there exists a "tri-zone" point (where UTC+1, UTC+2, and UTC+3 meet) at the Norway-Finland-Russia tripoint (look for the town of Nautsi in this map). This is the only "tri-zone" point within Europe. It is interesting to perform the following mental experiment when looking at this map: Go to the westernmost point of the red area (the Jäniskoski-Niskakoski area); this belongs to Russian jurisdiction, hence the time there is UTC+3. Then, take a northeastern (NE) direction (that is an eastwards direction); you will soon be crossing into Finnish territory, thus moving to the UTC+2 time zone. Continuing in that direction, you will eventually reach the Finland-Norway border and enter Norway, thus passing into the UTC+1 time zone. So, moving in a (north–)easterly direction, you will be moving from UTC+3 to UTC+2 to UTC+1! A note for time zone tourists: If you need a visa to enter Russia it is illegal to cross the border outside border controls.

See also

References

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