CET(Central European Time)
Central European Time (CET) is the standard time of most of continental western Europe, one hour ahead of UTC.
- UTC offset
- UTC+01:00
- Abbreviation
- CET
- Full name
- Central European Time
- Military letter
- Alpha (A)
- Regions
- Western Europe, Central Europe, North Africa
- IANA zones
- Europe/Paris, Europe/Berlin, Europe/Oslo, Europe/Madrid, Africa/Algiers
- Converter model
- Fixed offset.
What CET means
CET is the standard time of a broad block of countries from Spain and France through Germany and Poland up to Norway and Sweden, and it is kept year-round in parts of North Africa.
- Spain sits far west of the meridian this offset is built on, so Spanish clock time runs well ahead of local solar time.
Cities on this offset
These cities keep UTC+01:00 as their standard offset:
- Paris
- Berlin
- Madrid
- Rome
- Oslo
- Warsaw
Zones with the same offset
- IST — Irish Standard Time (UTC+01:00)
History
Central European Time spread from the German and Austro-Hungarian railway standards of the 1890s, and the bloc grew during the twentieth century as neighbouring states aligned their clocks for trade.