Central European Time

violet |
Azores ( UTC − 1 ) Azores, daylight saving time ( UTC ± 0 ) |
Light Blue | Western European Time ( UTC ± 0 ) |
blue |
Western European Time ( UTC ± 0 ) Western European Summer Time ( UTC + 1 ) |
red |
Central European Time ( UTC + 1 ) Central European Summer Time ( UTC + 2 ) |
yellow | Kaliningrad time ( UTC + 2 ) |
ocher |
Eastern European Time ( UTC + 2 ) Eastern European Summer Time ( UTC + 3 ) |
light green | Moscow time ( UTC + 3 ) |
The Central European Time ( CET , English Central European Time , CET is) dedicated to the 15th longitude relating eastern standard time , the (medium) in all European countries, which by this time zone to be covered and additionally in the Benelux countries , France and Spain is used as the legally valid time during the winter months and all year round in parts of Africa . It corresponds to the mean solar time on the longitude 15 ° East. The difference between Central European time and world time UTC is +1 hour, which is expressed in the abbreviation UTC + 1 with +1.
The difference between Central European Summer Time ( CEST ), which replaces CET during the summer half-year in Europe, and UTC is +2 hours. The CEST has the abbreviation UTC + 2 and corresponds to the mean solar time on the longitude 30 ° East.
Validity area

With the entry into force of the law concerning the introduction of a uniform time determination , Central European time was set as the standard time for the entire German Empire on April 1, 1893 . Since the decisive 15th degree of longitude east crosses the city of Görlitz , it was also referred to as the Görlitz era when it was introduced . In Switzerland , Central European time was determined by resolutions of the federal and cantonal executives in 1894 for the official clocks and subsequently established itself as the national time through custom; a legal regulation did not take place until 1981.

In Europe, the following cities are located on the meridian of longitude 15 ° - that is, CET and mean solar time are the same here:
- Rise in Norway
- Motala in Sweden
- Gudhjem (on Bornholm ) in Denmark
- Stargard in Poland
- Görlitz / Zgorzelec (on the Lusatian Neisse ) in Germany / Poland
- Jindřichův Hradec ( German Neuhaus ) in the Czech Republic
- Gmünd in the Waldviertel in Austria
- Catania in Sicily .
The ideal western limit of the underlying time zone to the UTC + 0 time zone runs at longitude 7.5 ° East, i.e. through Dortmund (with the center being on the other side of the line) and a little west of Strasbourg , so it becomes clear in many Western European countries with CET exceeded. In the Benelux countries , in France and in Spain, Greenwich Mean Time (UTC) and in Galicia the Azores time ( UTC − 1 ) would correspond more to the local solar time .
The ideal eastern limit (22.5 ° East) of the time zone to the UTC + 2 time zone runs near the city of Lublin in eastern Poland. It is only significantly exceeded in the north of Norway (the most easterly place Vardø is 31 ° 6 ′ even 1 ° 6 ′ east of the meridian for Eastern European Time , UTC + 2 ).
The area of application of the CET extends in Central Europe in the winter half-year from Cape Touriñán in Spain (9 ° 17 ′ west) to the Bug River near Hrubieszów in Poland (24 ° 10 ′ east), in the sub-polar region even to Vardø in Norway (31 ° 6 ′ east) ). The ideal latitude difference of 15 ° is clearly exceeded with almost 33.5 ° and almost 39.5 °. The difference between zone time and mean solar time at the edges of the actual time zone is correspondingly large: more than + 1 1 ⁄ 2 hours (in summer + 2 1 ⁄ 2 hours) at Cape Touriñán, around −1 hour in Vardø and around half an hour in Eastern Poland. In the summer half of the year, UTC + 1 is found in Europe on the British Isles and in Portugal as Western European summer time.
Several African countries lie in the same time zone, for example Angola , Benin , Cameroon , Libya , Niger , Nigeria , Chad , the Central African Republic , the Republic of the Congo and the western part of the Dem. Rep. Congo .
In the Federal Republic of Germany , the law on units in metrology and time determination currently specifies CET as the legal time in accordance with Section 4 , unless summer time has been introduced. It is broadcast via the long wave transmitter DCF77 in Mainflingen , whose time signal comes from an atomic clock of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig. So-called radio clocks can receive this time signal transmitter . In Switzerland , the Federal Law on Metrology of June 17, 2011 applies , where Article 15 defines Central European Time.
use
Countries in which Central European (Summer) Time is or has been used.
Introduction until World War II
-
Austria-Hungary :
- 1890: Kingdom of Hungary
- 1891: Kingdom of Bohemia
- 1893: Austria
- Italy : 1893
- Malta : 1893
- Germany : 1893
- Switzerland : 1894
- Liechtenstein : 1894
- Denmark : 1894
- Norway : 1895
- Sweden : 1900
- Luxembourg : 1904-1918
- Albania : 1914
- Belgium , 1914-1919
- Poland , 1915–1918 and since 1922
- Lithuania : 1920-1940
- Central European Time was supposed to be introduced in Romania in 1931, which a new Council of Ministers then revoked in order to subsequently introduce it. A royal decree of October 1, 1931 then again decreed Eastern European Time.
Introduction in World War II
- France , Netherlands , Belgium , Luxembourg : 1940 (after the German occupation)
- Spain : 1940 (except Canary Islands )
- Great Britain used British Summer Time as standard time ( War Time ) from 1940–1945 , British Double Summer Time (BDST) GMT + 2 was used as summer time
- Ireland used Irish Standard Time (IST) all year round from 1940-1946 , 1941-1945 and 1947 excluding British Double Summer Time
Introduction after the Second World War
- Monaco : 1945
- Andorra : 1946
- Gibraltar : 1957
- Great Britain and Ireland : 1968–1971 British Summer Time / Irish Standard Time all year round
- Portugal : 1966–1976 and 1992–1996: Portugal introduced the CET to intensify trade relations with Spain and France.
Web links
further reading
- Breusing: railroad time . In: Röll, Freiherr von (Ed.): Enzyklopädie des Eisenbahnwesens , Volume 4, Berlin and Vienna 1913, pp. 149–152.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Uli Kulke: From the sundial to world time . In: taz . March 25, 1989, p. 3 ( online ).
- ↑ Marc Tribelhorn: The dawn of a new time - how Switzerland synchronized its clocks with the world 125 years ago. nzz.ch, May 27, 2019.
- ↑ Federal law on metrology of June 17, 2011. admin.ch (accessed on May 27, 2019).
- ↑ On May 15, 1931 (Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (Ed.): Official Gazette of the Reichsbahndirektion Mainz of May 23, 1931, No. 25. Announcement No. 392, p. 187).
- ↑ Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (Ed.): Official Gazette of the Reichsbahndirektion Mainz of June 6, 1931, No. 27. Announcement No. 419, p. 200.
- ↑ Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (ed.): Official Gazette of the Reichsbahndirektion Mainz of June 27, 1931, No. 31. Announcement No. 459, p. 222.
- ↑ Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (ed.): Official Gazette of the Reichsbahndirektion Mainz of October 3, 1931, No. 46. Announcement No. 650, p. 307.
- ↑ Lighter nights would keep youngsters fitter and safer, say doctors… = Western Mail, June 27, 2005, accessed January 6, 2019 .
- ↑ It's Time For A Change To Save Lives And Reduce Injuries. Press release from October 22, 2008, RoSPA Press Office ( Memento from September 18, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ).
- ^ British Summer Time (BST) and the Daylight Saving Time plan. National Maritime Museum , accessed January 13, 2011; Compare in detail also the engl. Wikipedia: British Summer Time .