Every EU country moves its clocks forward by 60 minutes at 1.00 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on the last Sunday in March, and back at 1.00 a.m. GMT on the last Sunday in October, all at the same moment. The Commission proposed ending the changes in 2018, but the Council has not yet agreed its position.12
When exactly do the clocks change?
Under Directive 2000/84/EC, summer time is the part of the year when clocks are put forward by 60 minutes.1
Because the moment is fixed in Greenwich Mean Time, the switch happens at the same instant across the EU, whatever the local clock shows. The rule has applied from 2002 onwards and does not apply to member states' overseas territories.1
Which time zone is each EU country in?
The EU currently has three standard time zones, according to the Commission.2
The Commission names the countries in the western and eastern zones and gives only the count for the central zone; the list of central-zone countries is not spelled out on its page.
What about Norway?
Norway is not in the EU, but its summer-time regulation refers to Directive 2000/84 through the EEA Agreement. It sets summer time as Norway's normal time between 0200 on the last Sunday in March and 0300 on the last Sunday in October, local time.4
Is the EU going to stop changing the clocks?
Not yet. On 12 September 2018 the Commission proposed ending seasonal clock changes and letting each member state choose its standard time. Its public consultation drew about 4.6 million replies, 84% of them in favour of stopping the changes.2
The European Parliament adopted its position on 26 March 2019 by 410 votes to 192, with 51 abstentions, backing an end to the changes by 2021. The Council has not finalised its position, and the Parliament's tracker reports no further progress in the Council.23
The Parliament held a plenary debate on the question on 23 October 2025, and the Commission has decided to carry out a detailed study to support future decisions, according to the Parliament's legislative tracker, updated on 1 August 2026.3
What this page cannot tell you
- Japan is not covered. We could not save an official Japanese page, under terms that allow reuse, stating Japan's offset from Greenwich or whether Japan uses summer time, so this page leaves Japan out.
- Other non-EU countries. Apart from Norway, we did not find official texts we could save for the non-EU countries on this site (Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Serbia and Türkiye). Check each country's own official time rules.
- Dates by year. The Directive fixes the rule, not the calendar; the Commission publishes the actual dates in the Official Journal every five years, which we could not download.
- Plans can change. The proposal to end clock changes is still pending; re-check before relying on it.
Related: How long does golden hour last? Every place, every month · Where does the sun rise and set? Directions by month · Public holidays in Europe and Japan, 2026 and 2027.
Key takeaways
- EU clocks go forward on the last Sunday in March and back on the last Sunday in October, both at 1.00 a.m. GMT.
- The EU has three standard time zones: Western, Central and Eastern European Time.
- The 2018 plan to end clock changes is still waiting for the Council.
- What we would skip: assuming the clocks have stopped changing; the 2018 plan to end the changes has not been adopted.
Sources
The rule comes from Directive 2000/84/EC as served by the EU Publications Office; the time zones and the 2018 proposal come from the Commission's Summertime page; the current state of the proposal comes from the European Parliament's Legislative Train (updated 1 August 2026); Norway's rule comes from its regulation on Lovdata. All were read on 24 September 2026. See how we research.
- Directive 2000/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 January 2001 on summer-time arrangements, Official Journal L 31, 2 February 2001, as served by the Publications Office of the European Union. Read it. Accessed 24 September 2026. © European Union; EU legal documents may be reused for commercial or non-commercial purposes; we summarised it.
- European Commission, Mobility and Transport, Summertime. Read it. Accessed 24 September 2026. © European Union, licensed under CC BY 4.0; we summarised it.
- European Parliament, Legislative Train Schedule, Directive discontinuing seasonal changes of time (information updated as of 1 August 2026). Read it. Accessed 24 September 2026. Source: European Parliament; partial reproduction, full item at the URL above; we summarised it.
- Norway, Forskrift om sommertid (Regulation on summer time), FOR-2007-12-14-1420, published by Lovdata. Read it. Accessed 24 September 2026. Regulation text; under section 14 of Norway's Copyright Act, laws and regulations are not protected by copyright. Translated by us.
Changes made. We summarised the Directive, the Commission page (CC BY 4.0) and the Parliament's tracker in our own words, translated Norway's regulation from Norwegian, and arranged the rules into tables. Not legal advice.