Time Zones of Spain | Basic time zone concepts |
| Area | Standard | DST | Duration of DST |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain, except Canary Islands | UTC+1 | UTC+2 | From the last Sunday in March at 03:00 to the last Sunday in October at 02:00 |
| Canary Islands | UTC | UTC+1 | From the last Sunday in March at 01:00 to the last Sunday in October at 02:00 |
Ceuta and Melilla, Spain's "places of sovereignty in North Africa", currently observe the same time as continental Spain.
Source: This information was adapted from the tz database. Zone names come from that database. The names don't necessarily match any names used in the "real world".
Example: When it was 14:18 (or 2:18 p.m.) local time on 1945-09-03 (September 3, 1945) in Badajoz, Spain, what was the UTC?
Badajoz is in continental Spain. From the first table, this is in the Europe/Madrid time zone. In the second table, look in the block of rows for Europe/Madrid. Among them, look for the first row on which the Final Date exceeds 1945-09-03 14:18. You find that the second line has a date of "1946-09-30 00:00", which is the first to exceed 1945. Looking across the row, the Spain rule applies, and standard time is UTC. Finally, look in the third table under the Spain rule. Once again, find the date range that includes the date in question (1945). The 1945 row is the fourth in a group of rows that are all included under "Starting at 1940-03-16 23:00". The rule therefore says that "Midsummer Time", two hours ahead of standard time, was in effect in Badajoz from 23:00 local time on April 14, 1945 to 1:00 local time on September 30, 1945. The date in question falls between those two dates, so midsummer time was in effect. Therefore, the local time was UTC+2. Subtract two hours from the given time to get UTC. The answer is 1945-09-03 12:18 UTC.
| Area | Zone Name |
|---|---|
| Canary Islands | Atlantic/Canary |
| Ceuta and Melilla | Africa/Ceuta |
| Spain (all other places) | Europe/Madrid |
| Zone Name | Rule | Standard Time | Final Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic/Canary | Local | 1922-03-01 00:00 | |
| Standard | UTC-1 | 1946-09-30 01:00 | |
| Standard | UTC | 1980-04-06 00:00 | |
| Standard | UTC+1 | 1980-09-28 01:00 | |
| EU | UTC | Present | |
| Africa/Ceuta | Local | 1901-01-01 00:00 | |
| Standard | UTC | 1918-05-06 23:00 | |
| Standard | UTC+1 | 1918-10-07 23:00 | |
| Standard | UTC | 1924-01-01 00:00 | |
| Spain | UTC | 1929-01-01 00:00 | |
| SpainAfrica | UTC | 1984-03-16 00:00 | |
| Standard | UTC+1 | 1986-01-01 00:00 | |
| EU | UTC+1 | Present | |
| Europe/Madrid | Local | 1901-01-01 00:00 | |
| Spain | UTC | 1946-09-30 00:00 | |
| Spain | UTC+1 | 1979-01-01 00:00 | |
| EU | UTC+1 | Present |
| Rule | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Local | All | Local Mean Solar Time |
| EU | Standard Time, with DST = Standard Time + 1:00 during the following periods: | |
| 1981 to 1995 | from the last Sunday in March at 01:00 UTC to the last Sunday in Sep at 01:00 UTC | |
| 1996 onward | from the last Sunday in March at 01:00 UTC to the last Sunday in Oct at 01:00 UTC | |
| Spain | Standard Time, with DST = Standard Time + 1:00 during the following periods: | |
| 1917 | from 1917-05-05 23:00 to 1917-10-06 24:00 | |
| 1918 | from 1918-04-15 23:00 to 1918-10-06 24:00 | |
| 1919 | from 1919-04-05 23:00 to 1919-10-06 24:00 | |
| 1924 | from 1924-04-16 23:00 to 1924-10-04 24:00 | |
| 1926 | from 1926-04-17 23:00 to 1926-10-02 24:00 | |
| 1927 | from 1927-04-09 23:00 to 1927-10-01 24:00 | |
| 1928 | from 1928-04-14 23:00 to 1928-10-06 24:00 | |
| 1929 | from 1929-04-20 23:00 to 1929-10-05 24:00 | |
| 1937 | from 1937-05-22 23:00 to 1937-10-02 24:00 | |
| 1938 | from 1938-03-22 23:00 to 1938-10-01 24:00 | |
| 1939 | from 1939-04-15 23:00 to 1939-10-07 24:00 | |
| Starting at 1940-03-16 23:00, Standard Time + 1:00, with "Midsummer Time" = Standard Time + 2:00 during the following periods: | ||
| 1942 | from 1942-05-02 23:00 to 1942-09-01 24:00 | |
| 1943 | from 1943-04-17 23:00 to 1943-10-03 24:00 | |
| 1944 | from 1944-04-15 23:00 to 1944-10-10 24:00 | |
| 1945 | from 1945-04-14 23:00 to 1945-09-30 01:00 | |
| 1946 | from 1946-04-13 23:00 to 1946-09-30 00:00 | |
| Starting at 1946-09-30 00:00, Standard Time, with DST = Standard Time + 1:00 during the following periods: | ||
| 1949 | from 1949-04-30 23:00 to 1949-09-30 01:00 | |
| 1974 to 1975 | from the Saturday after the second Monday in April at 23:00 to the first Sunday in October at 01:00 | |
| 1976 | from 1976-03-27 23:00 to 1976-09-26 01:00 | |
| 1977 | from 1977-04-02 23:00 to 1977-09-25 01:00 | |
| 1978 | from 1978-04-02 23:00 to 1978-10-01 01:00 | |
| SpainAfrica | Standard Time, with DST = Standard Time + 1:00 during the following periods: | |
| 1967 | from 1967-06-03 12:00 to 1967-10-01 00:00 | |
| 1974 | from 1974-06-24 00:00 to 1974-09-01 00:00 | |
| 1976 | from 1976-05-01 00:00 to 1976-08-01 00:00 | |
| 1977 | from 1977-05-01 00:00 to 1977-09-28 00:00 | |
| 1978 | from 1978-06-01 00:00 to 1978-08-04 00:00 | |
Spain is a member of the European Union, which has standardized names and abbreviations for time zones. According to the EU, Europe/Madrid and Africa/Ceuta are both called "Central European Time" (CET), and when daylight saving is in effect, "Central European Summer Time" (CEST). Atlantic/Canary is "Western European Time" (WET), or "Western European Summer Time" (WEST) with daylight saving.
| Back to main statoids page | Last updated: 2001-05-17 |
| Copyright © 2001, 2003 by Gwillim Law. | |