Europe Starts Daylight Saving on March 25, 2012

Australia & NZ end DST Sunday, April 1

Synchronized schedule

In most European countries DST begins on the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Sunday of October. This is the case in:

• all countries in the European Union (EU) - including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy
• most other European countries - including Norway and Switzerland

Some European countries, like Iceland, Russia, and Belarus, do not observe DST.

DST dates worldwide - first half of 2012
DST dates worldwide - second half of 2012

When will clocks be advanced?

The precise time of the switch depends on the time zone. There are four major time zones in Europe (all time zones listed refer to standard time):

• Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), observed in countries including the United Kingdom and Ireland;
  Western European Time (WET), observed in Portugal, Faroe Islands and the Canary Islands.
  Daylight saving time starts at 01:00 local time, when clocks move one hour forward to 02:00.
  Note:The United Kingdom and Ireland do not observe GMT during daylight saving time.

• Central Europe Time (CET), observed in countries including France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Spain.
  Daylight saving time starts at 02:00 local time, when clocks move forward to 03:00.

• Eastern European Time (EET), observed in countries including Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine.
  Daylight saving time starts at 03:00 local time, when clocks move forward to 04:00.

• Most of the western parts of Russia are in the Moscow time zone, Moscow Standard Time (MSK).
  Note:Russia does not switch to daylight saving time in 2012.

UK bill to change time zone ran out of time

More details about Europe’s time zones and DST schedule, as well as a brief history of DST in Europe can be found on our website.