Time in Switzerland
Switzerland uses a single time zone, denoted as Central European Time (CET: UTC+01:00). Switzerland also observes summer time, shifting to Central European Summer Time (CEST: UTC+02:00).[1]
Daylight saving time
Whilst DST was introduced in much of Western Europe in the spring of 1980, Switzerland did not implement DSL until the following year. This resulted in there being a one hour time difference between Switzerland and most of Western Europe, including all of the bordering countries (with the exception of tiny Liechtenstein) for around 6 months in 1980.
Since 1981 the shifts to DST occur on the date as specified for European Summer Time. Historically DST was observed in 1941 and in 1942.
Solar time
The difference of longitude between the western and easternmost points of Switzerland is equivalent to 4°32′09″, resulting in a difference of approximately 18 minutes of solar time.
IANA time zone database
The IANA time zone database contains one zone for Switzerland in the file zone.tab, named Europe/Zurich. Columns marked with * are the columns from zone.tab itself.
c.c.* | Coordinates* | TZ* | Comments* | UTC offset | UTC DST offset |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CH | +4723+00832 | Europe/Zurich | +01:00 | +02:00 | |