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Spain, located in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe, has a time zone system consisting of two time zones, and takes part in daylight saving time. The standard time used in mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta, Melilla, and plazas de soberanía is Central European Time (CET) which is abbreviated as UTC 01:00. The Canary Islands, on the other hand, use Western European Time (WET) which is abbreviated to UTC±00:00. During daylight saving time (DST), which commences on the last Sunday of March at 01:00 Western European Time, and ends on the last Sunday of October at 01:00 Western European Time, Spain observes a 1-hour time difference.

Prior to World War II, Spain observed GMT (UTC±00:00), except for the Canary Islands, which observed UTC−01:00. Following the war, the time zone was shifted to Central European Time, and has remained the same ever since, even though the nation's location is more ideal for observing GMT. Observers speculate that this shift in time zone may have an impact on the country's unique daily schedule, characterised by late mealtimes and sleep.

History:

Like other parts of the world, Spain employed mean solar time until 31 December 1900. On 22 July 1900, in San Sebastián, Francisco Silvela, the president of the Consejo de Ministros, submitted a proposal to the regent of Spain, María Cristina, to standardise time across the country. The proposal was to enforce Greenwich Mean Time (UTC±00:00) as the standard time in peninsular Spain, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla starting January 1, 1901. The royal decree was ratified on July 26, 1900, by María Cristina in San Sebastián, her summer residence.

The Canary Islands Time Anomaly

The Canary Islands stubbornly clung on to mean solar time until the 1st of March 1922. It was then discovered that the royal decree of 1900, which mandated the adoption of standard time, only applied to the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. At the time, the Canary Islands were an exception and utilized a time that was 1 hour behind the rest of Spain, UTC-01:00. This particular time offset was used until the 16th of March, 1940, upon which they started using Western European Time (UTC±00:00).

The Canary Islands, like the rest of Spain, observes daylight saving time. At 1:00 UTC on the last Sunday of March, they change from 01:00 WET to 02:00 WEST (while the rest of Spain changes from 02:00 CET to 03:00 CEST). When daylight saving time ends, they adopt the 01:00 WET time again on the last Sunday of October (while the rest of Spain changes from 03:00 CEST to 02:00 CET).

Local media, particularly on the radio, often give a helpful reminder: "una hora menos en Canarias" (English: "one hour less in the Canary Islands") when local time is mentioned.

The natural time zone for the Canary Islands is UTC-01:00.

Daylight Saving Time

Daylight saving time was first implemented in 1918 after the conclusion of World War I. It was then introduced and repealed several times, with some years seeing no time change. There was no DST in 1920-1923, 1925, 1930, and the period of the Second Spanish Republic from 1931-1936. During the Spanish Civil War, DST was reinstated, although it was applied on different dates depending on which faction controlled the territory.

Interestingly, during the Spanish Civil War, the Republican faction attempted to shift from Greenwich Mean Time to Central European Time, with time advancing by 1 hour on the 2nd of April, 1938, and another hour on the 30th of April, 1938. They returned to their original time by setting their clocks back 1 hour on the 2nd of October, 1938. After the war ended on the 1st of April, 1939, Greenwich Mean Time was reintroduced, and on the 15th of April, 1939, daylight saving time resumed.

Since the 1973 oil crisis, daylight saving time has been implemented annually. It was made into a directive in 1981 and undergoes revision every four years. DST starts at 01:00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and ends at 01:00 UTC on the last Sunday of September. In 1996, the European Union synchronized DST through Directive 2000/84/EC, moving the end of DST to the last Sunday of October.

Central European Time[edit]

During DST, the difference between sun time and clock time ranges from 0h ± 30m to 3h ± 30m ahead.

In 1940, Francisco Franco altered the time zone by shifting 23:00 GMT on March 16, 1940 to 00:00 Central European Time on March 17, 1940, amid World War II. It became permanent in 1942 to align with German-occupied Europe. Some Western European countries, including France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, continued to use German time even after the war along with Spain.

Criticism of Central European Time[edit]

A Spanish advertisement that displays breakfasts till 13:00 and meriendas from 17:00 to 20:00. It reveals the country's habit of taking meals at later times.

Based on the original 24-hour division of the globe, mainland Spain, excluding the westernmost part of Galicia and Extremadura, and the westernmost portion of Andalucía fall under the Greenwich Mean Time; the latter, however, corresponds with the UTC-01:00 time zone. Since 1940, all of mainland Spain has adopted Central European Time (UTC 01:00), following an initial wartime resolution that was meant to be revoked but was never reversed. There exists a group of activists who believe that the incongruence between Spain's clock time and solar time leads to the country's unconventional daily schedule, which, in turn, generates lagging productivity and discordance between family and work-life. They suggest that returning to Spain's original Greenwich Mean Time would enable a more efficacious work-life balance for the average Spaniard, rallying increased productivity and improving family-life.

The Congress of Deputies subcommittee, dedicated to studying the Rationalisation of Hours, the Reconciliation of Personal, Family Life and Professional Life and Responsibility, presented a report to the Government of Spain in September 2013 proposing a restoration of the Greenwich Mean Time, among other recommendations. The subcommittee envisaged numerous benefits of the proposal, including granting more time to spend on family, training, personal life, and leisure while eliminating workplace downtime, contributing to an increase in Spanish labour productivity and the synchronization of schedules with family and work-life.

In Galicia, the westernmost region of mainland Spain, the difference between the official local time and mean solar time is approximately two and a half hours throughout summer time. Political movements have emerged imitating Portugal's time policy to address this disparity by bringing the official time in line with the GMT, sharing the same longitude with Spain. This would involve shifting the official time by one hour, aligning it with Portugal's time. For instance, in Vigo, located 35 time minutes from the Greenwich Meridian, noon falls around 14:40 during the summer, and sunset time is at approximately 22:15 local time. In contrast, in Menorca, sunset is at around 21:20.

Time Zones in Spain[Modify]

Spain is part of the IANA time zone database and has 3 different zones. The asterisks denote information retrieved from zone.tab in the database.

Notation[Modify]

Contrast with Neighboring Countries[Modify]

Spain's borders are shared with four countries: Portugal, France, Andorra, Morocco; as well as with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is customary to adjust the clocks one hour backward after crossing the border with Portugal.

Daylight Saving Time and Related Events[Modify]

The table below highlights previous periods of time changes in Spain. Note the specified time of the adjustment is based on the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Year

Start of DST

Time Zone Update

End of DST

Time Zone Update

Notes

1918

Monday, 15 April 23:00 GMT

GMT±00:00 → GMT 01:00

Sunday, 6 October 23:00 UTC

GMT 01:00 → GMT±00:00

1919

Sunday, 6 April 23:00 GMT

GMT±00:00 →

Monday, 6 October 23:00 GMT

GMT 01:00 → GMT±00:00

1924

Wednesday, 16 April 23:00 GMT

GMT±00:00 → GMT 01:00

Saturday, 4 October 23:00 GMT

GMT 01:00 → GMT±00:00

1926

Saturday, 17 April 23:00 GMT

GMT±00:00 → GMT 01:00

Saturday, 2 October 23:00 GMT

GMT 01:00 → GMT±00:00

1927

The time zone changes for various important events in history are as follows:

• - On Saturday, April 9 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT±00:00 to GMT 01:00.
• - On Saturday, October 1 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT 01:00 to GMT±00:00.
• - In 1928, on Saturday, April 14 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT±00:00 to GMT 01:00.
• - On Saturday, October 6 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT 01:00 to GMT±00:00.
• - In 1929, on Saturday, April 20 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT±00:00 to GMT 01:00.
• - On Sunday, October 6 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT 01:00 to GMT±00:00.
• - In 1937, on Saturday, May 22 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT±00:00 to GMT 01:00.
• - On Saturday, October 2 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT 01:00 to GMT±00:00.
• - In the Nationalist zone during the Spanish Civil War, on Wednesday, June 16 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT±00:00 to GMT 01:00.
• - On Wednesday, October 6 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT 01:00 to GMT±00:00.
• - In the Republican zone during the Spanish Civil War, in 1938, on Saturday, March 26 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT±00:00 to GMT 01:00.
• - On Saturday, October 1 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT 01:00 to GMT±00:00 in the Nationalist zone.
• - In the Nationalist zone during the Spanish Civil War, on Saturday, April 2 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT±00:00 to GMT 01:00.
• - In the Republican zone during the Spanish Civil War, on Saturday, April 30 at 10:00 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT to Central European Time (CET).
• - On Sunday, October 2 at 10:00 PM GMT, the time changed from CET to GMT.
• - In the Republican zone during the Spanish Civil War, in 1939, on Saturday, April 1 at 10:30 PM GMT, the time changed from GMT 01:00 to GMT±00:00.
• - In the Republican zone during the Spanish Civil War, on Saturday, April 15 at 11:00 PM GMT, the time changed from CET to GMT marking the end of the Spanish Civil War.
• Change the time zone from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) to Central European Time (CET) [5].
• On Saturday, October 7th at 11 PM GMT, the time zone will shift from GMT±00:00 to GMT 01:00.
• On Saturday, March 16th, 1940 at 11 PM GMT, the time zone will shift from GMT 01:00 to GMT±00:00.
• On Saturday, May 2nd, 1942 at 10 PM GMT, the time zone will shift from GMT 01:00 to GMT 02:00, and on Tuesday, September 1st at 10 PM GMT, it will shift from GMT 02:00 back to GMT 01:00.
• On Saturday, April 17th, 1943 at 10 PM GMT, the time zone will shift from GMT 01:00 to GMT 02:00, and on Sunday, October 3rd at 10 PM GMT, it will shift from GMT 02:00 back to GMT 01:00.
• On Saturday, April 15th, 1944 at 10 PM GMT, the time zone will shift from GMT 01:00 to GMT 02:00, and on Saturday, September 30th at 11 PM GMT, it will shift from GMT 02:00 back to GMT 01:00.
• On Saturday, April 14th, 1945 at 10 PM GMT, the time zone will shift from GMT 01:00 to GMT 02:00, and on Saturday, September 29th at 11 PM GMT, it will shift from GMT 02:00 back to GMT 01:00.
• On Saturday, April 13th, 1946 at 10 PM GMT, the time zone will shift from GMT 01:00 to GMT 02:00, and on Saturday, September 28th at 10 PM GMT, it will shift from GMT 02:00 back to GMT 01:00.
• On Saturday, April 30th, 1949 at 10 PM GMT, the time zone will shift from GMT 01:00 to GMT 02:00, and on Saturday, October 1st at 11 PM GMT, it will shift from GMT 02:00 back to GMT 01:00.
• On Saturday, April 13th, 1974 at 10 PM GMT, the time zone will shift from GMT 01:00 to GMT 02:00, and on Saturday, October 5th at 11 PM GMT, it will shift from GMT 02:00 back to GMT 01:00.
• On Saturday, April 12th, 1975 at 10 PM GMT, the time zone will shift from GMT 01:00 to GMT 02:00, and on Saturday, October 4th at 10 PM GMT, it will shift from GMT 02:00 back to GMT 01:00.
• On Saturday, March 27th, 1976 at 10 PM GMT, the time zone will shift from GMT 01:00 to GMT 02:00, and on Saturday, September 25th at 10 PM GMT, it will shift back from GMT 02:00 to GMT 01:00.
• On Saturday, April 2nd, 1977 at 10 PM GMT, the time zone will shift from GMT 01:00 to GMT 02:00.

On Saturday, September 24 at 10:00 PM GMT, the time changes from GMT +2:00 to GMT +1:00. This same change occurs every year, as a result of daylight saving time adjustments.

In 1978, the time change occurred on Sunday, April 2, at 10:00 PM GMT, and the offset changed from GMT +1:00 to GMT +2:00. It then changed back to GMT +1:00 on Sunday, October 1, at 1:00 AM GMT.

Similarly, in 1979, the time offset changed from GMT +1:00 to GMT +2:00 on Sunday, April 1, at 1:00 AM GMT. It was then reversed to GMT +1:00 on Sunday, September 30, at 1:00 AM GMT.

The time offset changes followed the same pattern in 1980, with the time moving from GMT +1:00 to GMT +2:00 on Sunday, April 6, at 1:00 AM GMT, and then reverting to GMT +1:00 on Sunday, September 28, at 1:00 AM GMT.

Between 1981 and 1995, the time offset changes happened on the last Sunday in March at 1:00 AM GMT, moving from GMT +1:00 to GMT +2:00, and on the last Sunday in September at 1:00 AM GMT, moving from GMT +2:00 to GMT +1:00. These changes occurred annually.

From 1996 to the present, the time offset adjustments happen on the last Sunday in March at 1:00 AM GMT, moving from GMT +1:00 to GMT +2:00, and on the last Sunday in October at 1:00 AM GMT, moving from GMT +2:00 to GMT +1:00.

For additional information, refer to the "Catalan time system" and the "List of time zones" linked below. Also, consult the references, including a BBC Travel article and a historical and legal note from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

"The Origin of Daylight Saving Time in Spain"

The history of daylight saving time in Spain can be traced back to 1940. On March 7th of that year, a decree was issued by the Spanish government, ordering the advancement of legal time by 60 minutes from the 16th of that month. This move was made with the intent of aligning Spain's time zone with Nazi-controlled Europe, as part of a broader ideological shift toward fascist regimes during that time.

Despite the controversial origins of daylight saving time in Spain, it has remained a fixed practice in the country. Changes to the schedule for daylight saving time are announced and followed each year, consistent with similar practices in other countries around the world.

For more information on the history of daylight saving time in Spain and its impact on the country, interested readers can consult a variety of reliable sources, including blogs, academic journals, and reputable news outlets.

It is the 70th anniversary of a schedule change that does not correspond to Spain, as reported by baquia.com in 2010. The article by Jim Yardley in The New York Times from 2014 discusses Spain's traditional 10 PM dinner times and questions whether the country should reset their clock to match other European nations. Recently, Spanish lawmakers have debated the idea of changing the country's time zone to better align with a work-life balance. The Daily Telegraph reported on efforts to eliminate siestas and promote better work habits in Spain. A map of the deviation between solar and official time is available on the Wordpress - Fronteras website. La Voz de Galicia describes the calls for a Galician time zone, while an opinion piece in El País discusses the time change as a whole.

External links to the Real Observatorio de la Armada provide information about Spain's current time and other related topics, such as the concept of time itself.