This is the Final Report of a study by ICF International on the application of summertime in Europe. The study was commissioned by DG Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) of the European Commission (hereinafter ‘the Commission’). At present summertime is applied on a harmonised basis across the European Union (EU). All Member States put their clocks forward one hour on the last Sunday in March and change them back one hour on the last Sunday in October. This synchronised approach, which is the end point of an evolutionary process lasting several decades, is codified in European law. The objective of this study is to examine the implications, for the internal market, business and citizens of relaxing current practice such that summertime was no longer obligatory and was not harmonised across the Member States. The study is concerned solely with the synchronisation of summertime in Europe, not whether the application of summertime in itself is a valid public policy objective. The analysis is based on a review of the literature, consultations with Member State governments, businesses, non-governmental organisations and other interested stakeholders and development of scenarios illustrating the implications of a move away from the current harmonised approach. (Author/publisher)
Abstract