Discontinuing seasonal changes of time [EU Legislation in Progress]

Written by Ariane Debyser (2nd edition),

To end the biannual change of clocks that currently takes place in every Member State at the end of March and the end of October, on 12 September 2018 the European Commission adopted a proposal to discontinue the seasonal changes of time in the Union. The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, presented the initiative in his State of the Union address as an issue of subsidiarity, underlining that ‘Member States should themselves decide whether their citizens live in summer or winter time’.

The initiative, which would repeal existing provisions governed by Directive 2000/84/EC, proposes a timetable to end seasonal clock-changing arrangements in a coordinated way, in order to safeguard the proper functioning of the internal market and avoid the disruptions that this may cause, for instance, to the transport or communications sectors.

As the Council has decided that a proper impact assessment should be conducted before it can reach a political agreement, the file is due to be closed at first reading, with a vote in Parliament’s plenary in March 2019 on the TRAN committee’s report.

• March 2019: ‘Discontinuing seasonal changes of time‘ (2nd edition)