'Daylight saving time' begins in early hours of Sunday, 29 March

This complies with European Directive 2000/84/EC, which applies to all Member States of the European Union.

This change of hour is currently being researched by the respective States that make up the European Union, following a public consultation process carried out by the European Commission in 2018, in which more than 80% of the 4.6 million citizens surveyed were found to be in favour of doing away with these time changes.

In March, 2019, the European Parliament Committee on Transport and Tourism approved the postponement of this decision until at least 2021.

Changing the clocks generates extensive debate throughout society. A number of reports have been drafted in recent years that have not only considered the issues related to potential energy savings but also other issues related to the need for time standardisation, road safety, working conditions and repercussions on health, among others. These reports all agree that any benefits from changing the clocks are vague.

Following a request from the Council of Ministers in August 2018, a committee of experts was set up in Spain, made up of leading professionals from all sectors affected. Its goal was to analyse the factors for and against changing the clocks, as well as the impact that would be caused by a decision to permanently adopt one or the other of the two alternatives.

The results of this analysis will be taken into consideration by the Government of Spain when reaching a decision on the local time zone that Spain adopts.

However, the Centre for Sociological Research (Spanish acronym: CIS) carried out a survey in November of last year, in which 65% of the participants were in favour of continuing with daylight saving time.

Energy

Following publication of the draft Directive, the European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy prepared a report drafted by Sven Schulze stating that, although the seasonal clock changes can lead to savings, those are marginal and there is no certainty that they are obtained in all Member States. While some countries may make energy savings, others will see energy consumption rise.

The report also indicates that energy savings can be obtained in lighting but that the same is not so clear in the case of heating, where consumption may even increase. According to experts, the results are difficult to interpret given that they are strongly influenced by such external factors as geography, meteorology and user behaviour.

In Spain, there are no up-to-date reports that confirm that the time change leads to energy savings. Furthermore, with the new demands for energy efficiency for lighting, air conditioning and buildings, together with the gradual introduction of self-consumption, the analyses previously used to calculate these data alter significantly.

The Energy Diversification and Savings Institute (Spanish acronym: IDAE) is actively encouraging citizens - as far as is possible - to adopt measures that foster energy efficiency and savings in domestic use, particularly during this period of lockdown established by Royal Decree-Law 8/2020, of 17 March, on urgent measures to combat the economic and social impact of COVID-19. To this end, the web page of the Institute provides a guide on practical advice and there is an online training platform.

Local Time Zone

Spain is geographically located in the local time zone UTC/GMT+1, like most of Europe, except for the United Kingdom, Ireland and Portugal, which remain in UTC/GMT+0. Spanish "official time" signed up to this local time zone back in 1940, which is 60 minutes ahead of "universal time".

At Spain's latitude, the number of sunlight hours is almost consistent throughout the country, around 10 in winter and 14 in summer, although sunrise and sunset do not occur at the same time in the east and west, with more than one hour's difference possible between the two extremes. By way of example, Vigo is the European city with the latest sunset.

Non official translation