Western European Time

Time zones of Europe:

light blue	Western European Time (UTC+0)
blue	Western European Time (UTC+0) Western European Summer Time (UTC+01:00)
pink	Central European Time (UTC+01:00)
brown	Central European Time (UTC+01:00) Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00)
yellow	Eastern European Time (UTC+02:00) Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00)
orange	Further-eastern European Time (UTC+03:00)
light green	Moscow Time (UTC+04:00)

Light colours indicate countries that do not observe summer time: Algeria, Belarus, Iceland, Russia, Tunisia.

Western European Time (WET, UTC±00:00) is a time zone covering parts of western and northwestern Europe. The following countries and regions use WET in winter months:

• Canary Islands, since 1 March 1922^[1] (rest of Spain is CET, i.e. UTC+1)
• Faroe Islands, since 1908
• North Eastern Greenland (Danmarkshavn and surrounding area)
• Iceland, since 1968
• Portugal, since 1912 with pauses (except Azores, UTC-1)^[2]
• Ireland, since 1916, except in 1968–71. See time in the Republic of Ireland.
• The United Kingdom and its dependencies the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It is legally known as Greenwich Mean Time within the British Islands and has been in standard use in England, Scotland and Wales since 1847, and Northern Ireland since 1916. Different British time zones have been trialled for short periods during these years.^[3][4][5]

All the above countries except Iceland implement daylight saving time in summer, switching to Western European Summer Time (WEST, UTC+1), which is one hour ahead of WET. WEST is called British Summer Time in the UK.

The nominal span of the time zone is 7.5°E to 7.5°W (0° ± 7.5°), but the WET zone does not include the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Gibraltar or Spain which use Central European Time (CET), even though these are mostly (France) or completely (the rest) west of 7.5°E. Conversely, Iceland and eastern Greenland are included even though both are west of 7.5°W. In September 2013, a Spanish parliamentary committee recommended switching to WET, a move which is being considered by MPs.^[6][7][8]

Historical uses

A slight variation of this time zone, based until 1911 on the Paris Meridian, was used in:

• Andorra: 1901–46
• Belgium: 1892–1914 and 1919–1940
• France: 1911–1940 and 1944–1945
• Gibraltar: 1880–1957
• Luxembourg: 1918–1940
• Monaco: 1911–1945

Until the Second World War, France used WET. However, the German occupation switched France to German time, and it has remained in CET since then.^[9] Two other occupied territories, Belgium and the Netherlands, did the same, and Spain also switched to CET in solidarity with Germany under the orders of General Franco.

In the United Kingdom, from 1940 to 1945 British Summer Time (BST=CET) was used in winters, and from 1941 to 1945 and again in 1947, British Double Summer Time (BDST=CEST) was used in summers. Between 18 February 1968 and 31 October 1971, BST was used all year round.

In Ireland, from 1940 to 1946 Irish Summer Time (IST=CET) was used all year round, with no 'double' summer time akin to that in the United Kingdom. Between 18 February 1968 and 31 October 1971, Irish Standard Time was used all year round.

In Portugal, CET was used in the mainland from 1966 to 1976 and from 1992 to 1996. The autonomous region of the Azores used WET from 1992 to 1993.^[10][11][12]

References