2022 SUMMER TIME CHANGE. The 2022 summer time change is scheduled for the night of Saturday to Sunday. Exact date and time, rules, consequences on health, end of the time change… Check out this special page and our questions / answers to finally find out more about the transition to summer time and its impact on your day-to-day !
The essential
- We are switching to summer time 2022 this last weekend in March, on the night of Saturday March 26 to Sunday March 27.
- At 2 o’clock in the morning, we will instantly go to 3 o’clock: the hands move forward one hour.
- We will lose an hour of sleep but will gain an hour of brightness at the end of the day.
- Our offset from solar time will change from one hour (GMT+1) during winter time to two hours (GMT+2).
Questions answers
Why does the time change always take place on weekends?
The Futura Sciences site explains in an article why the time change only takes place on weekends. Imagine the situation if the time change took place on a weekday, in the middle of the day: staggered trains, upset office hours… The site details: “The time change takes place at the time of more weak economic activities, that is, in our weekly rhythmic societies (why, by the way?), in the heart of the night from Saturday to Sunday. When the time it is does not matter much.”
For the transition to summer time, should you move your watch forward or backward?
This is not to confuse them! Unlike the transition to winter time, the transition to summer time requires you to advance your watch by one hour. As a reminder, the official time in France then goes from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m., and this, instantly.
Did the first time change really take place under the occupation?
The first time change in France dates back to the German occupation, in 1940. Throughout this period, France therefore lived on winter time and summer time, the occupied part having changed the time to German time. In particular, this caused great difficulties for the SNCF, with trains from the free zone running one hour late in the occupied zone, and trains coming from the occupied zone waiting an hour at the demarcation line.
End of the time change: why is the case of Ireland thorny?
Following the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU in 2020, the case of Ireland poses a problem: the British will a priori continue to change time twice a year, which will create a jet lag for half the year on the Irish island, between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. What raise fears of new tensions around the border, after those noted during the discussions on the outcome of Brexit.
What are the key votes for the end of the time change?
Three emblematic votes took place on the end of the time change. After a vote of European citizens in the summer of 2018, the vast majority in favor (84%) of the abolition of the seasonal time change (winter and summer), the French also voted en masse (83.71 %) “for” the end of the time change in February 2019. The European Parliament also confirmed this wish on March 26, 2019, with 410 votes “for”, versus 192 votes “against” and 51 abstentions. In the other EU countries, consultations have also been organised.
How would permanent summer time be concretely the ally of restaurateurs?
The logic is there: summer time all year round would be beneficial to the tourism sector. As the sun sets later, tourists and onlookers are more likely to stay in cafes and restaurants. Already in 2018, the mayor of Mazamet in the Tarn, who founded the European association for summer time, promoted the benefits of this summer time. “For conviviality first, we are all happy to enjoy the sun, including late in the evening! The tourism economy also benefits, because people go out and consume more when it is day,” he said. at the Parisian/Today in France.
All of France does not switch to summer time
Will all of France change time? No ! Some French islands do not use summer time. Indeed, according to the head of the center of Météo France Martinique, Jean-Noël Degrace, interviewed by franceinfo, the “positioning close to the Equator means that the length of the day varies very little”. The majority of Caribbean countries do not change their time for this reason. In Reunion, switching to summer time is also “useless”, detailed Jacques Ecormier, then chief forecaster at Météo France. “The difference between summer and winter will only be an hour, an hour and a half, it has no interest in terms of energy saving”.
Who manages the end of the time change from above?
The “end of the time change” file is in the hands of two entities, like any reform project within the EU: the European Parliament and the European Council (which brings together the representatives of the Member States), not to be confused with the European Commission.
Why does the time change always take place on weekends?
The Futura Sciences site explains in an article why the time change only takes place on weekends. Imagine the situation if the time change took place on a weekday, in the middle of the day: staggered trains, upset office hours… The site details: “The time change takes place at the time of more weak economic activities, that is, in our weekly rhythmic societies (why, by the way?), in the heart of the night from Saturday to Sunday. When the time it is does not matter much.”
Who had the idea of the time change?
If the time change was implemented in France in 1976, this idea had already been mentioned much earlier. In 1784, it was Benjamin Franklin who spoke about it in the Journal de Paris, already at the time evoking savings thanks to this process. Then US Ambassador to France, he hoped to reduce the consumption of candles. Today, the principle of the time change is to take advantage of the hours of natural sunshine in the evening in summer to consume less electricity.
The daylight saving time change always takes place on the last (full) weekend of March, at 2 a.m., on the night of Saturday to Sunday. The 2022 summer time change therefore takes place on the night of Saturday March 26 to Sunday March 27, 2022, with a jump in the hands from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m.
During the summer time change, at 2 am, you always have to advance the hands of your old watch or your ancestral clock by one hour. At 2 o’clock, France goes instantly to 3 o’clock. In more technical terms, the Hexagon “switches” from GMT+1 (winter time) to GMT+2 (summer time). If an hour of sleep is “lost” in this way, night falls, on the other hand, an hour later. The maneuver therefore artificially loses one hour of sleep, but also artificially gains one hour of natural light at the end of the day, in addition to the natural and progressive lengthening of the days as the sun approaches. summer solstice, in June. Of course, smartphones like all connected devices switch to summer time automatically, without any intervention being necessary.
Not only is the March 2022 daylight saving time change not the last, corn several other time changes are yet to follow. According to the European Commission, quoted by Le Figaro.fr, the abolition of the time change will probably not take place in 2022. Apart from the delay caused by the Covid health crisis, what is blocking is the harmonization between member states. The European Union indeed knows three time zones today, and an EU directive suggests letting each State choose whether or not to abolish the time change, and then switch to either winter time or permanent summer time. This European Union directive has been validated by the European Parliament in March 2019, but it must also be done by the Council of Ministers (which unites the representatives of the different EU Member States). This is where negotiations stall.
As EELV MEP Karima Delli, who oversees the reform in Brussels, recently told the Sud Ouest newspaper, the situation is “at a standstill”. On March 26, 2021, the MEP already deplored that “several states in southern Europe were not particularly in favor of the end of the time change, unlike countries in northern Europe. Everyone had their own idea “. Due to the current blockage, “it would be extremely difficult to envisage an end to the time change for 2022 or [même] 2023”, she concluded.
In February 2018, the European Parliament polled EU citizens on the subject of the time change. Among the 4.6 million Europeans who responded, 84% said they were in favor of the end of the time change. In March 2019, a citizen consultation, conducted in France this time with 2.1 million participants, via the National Assembly website, had also given a clear French preference for the end of the time change (83.71%). And the French were also quite clear (nearly 60%) in favor of permanently staying on summer time as permanent seasonal time: 59.17% of respondents chose this option compared to 36.97% for summer time. winter, yet closer to so-called “solar” or natural time. 46.62% invoked health and biological rhythms; 22.15% of respondents explained their choice by their desire to allow the development of leisure activities at the end of the day; 10.16% intended to promote energy savings; 10.72% ensure smooth functioning of exchanges with neighboring countries and finally 8.93% mentioned road safety.
41% of respondents “for permanent winter time”, in a recent study
Have attitudes changed since the official consultation in 2019? According to an exclusive survey conducted by YouGov France for Internet users*, to the question “In the long term, to what extent are you for or against staying permanently on winter time?”. 41% of respondents answered “For”, 40% declared themselves “Against”. The result is therefore very tight. If we refine the verdict, 18% of respondents say they are “totally for” staying permanently on winter time, when 23% are “rather for”.
On the other hand, 22% of French people questioned say they are “totally against” permanent winter time, and 18% “rather against”. 19% of respondents simply do not know whether they are for or against winter time all year round, in other words a permanent one-hour difference with solar time, compared to a two-hour difference when is summer time.
* Survey carried out in line from October 6 to 7, 2021, out of 1,007 people representative of the French national population aged 18 and over.
The time change was introduced in several European countries in the 1970s. The price of energy was then increased tenfold by the first oil shocks caused by theOPEC. France, for its part, adopted the measure of summer time in 1976. Objective: to save electricity by artificially grabbing one hour of natural light in the morning. A controversial credo for several decades because of the collateral negative effects of the seasonal double time change, without sufficient benefits in return. Time change dates were harmonized in the 1980s between EU member states, to promote smooth communication and transport between them.