Western European Time

Time zones of Europe

Western European Time (WET, UTC+0, and commonly known as Greenwich Mean Time in the United Kingdom) is the time zone covering parts of western and northwestern Europe, including the following countries and regions:

*Canary Islands, since 1946 (rest of Spain is CET, i.e. UTC+1)
*Faroe Islands, since 1908
*northeastern Greenland (Danmarkshavn and surrounding area)
*Iceland, since 1968
*Portugal, since 1911 with pauses (except Azores, UTC-1)
*The Republic of Ireland, since 1916 with pausesFact|date=May 2007
*The United Kingdom (including England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales plus the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, where the term GMT is used), since 1847 in England, Scotland and Wales, since 1916 in Northern Ireland with pausesFact|date=May 2007

During winter months, the countries above use WET, which corresponds to Universal Time (UTC); however in the summer, most (but not all) of the above places move one hour ahead to Western European Summer Time (UTC+1). Officially the Republic of Ireland is on UTC+1, but goes to UTC in winter, and for all practical purposes uses the same time as the United Kingdom. There have been calls recently for the UK, particularly England and Wales, to change to CET. [cite news |title=Time for a change? |publisher=BBC News |date=1998-09-25 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/179030.stm |accessdate=2008-06-13] [cite news |title=Bill could divide UK time zones |publisher=BBC News |date=2004-10-11 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3732690.stm |accessdate=2008-06-13]

This time zone (GMT) was used in:
*Andorra in years 1901-46
*Belgium in years 1892-1914 and 1919-1940
*France in years 1911-40 and 1944-45
*Gibraltar in years 1880-1957
*Luxembourg in years 1918-40
*Monaco in years 1911-45

In the United Kingdom in years 1940-45 British Summer Time (BST=CET) was used in winters and in years 1941-45 & 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 the Republic of Ireland in years 1940-46 Irish Summer Time (IST=CET) was used all year (Ireland did not adopt similar time changes to British Double Summer Time (BDST=CEST) in 1941-45, 1947). Between 18 February 1968 and 31 October 1971 Irish Standard Time was used all year round.

In Portugal, CET was used in the periods 1966-1976 and 1992-1996.

UTC (sometimes called "Zulu time" or "Z time" and formerly called "Greenwich Mean Time") also covers part of west Africa:
*Burkina Faso
*Côte d'Ivoire
*The Gambia
*Ghana
*Guinea
*Guinea-Bissau
*Liberia
*Mali
*Mauritania
*Morocco
*Saint Helena
*São Tomé and Príncipe
*Senegal
*Sierra Leone
*Togo

References