Clock goes back 1 hour as winter time begins Sunday

The winter time will start early Sunday when the clock will turn back by an hour at 4.00am.

Although the European Parliament in spring 2019 voted on European Commission's proposal that all EU Member States stop adjusting the clocks for daylight saving already, the proposal is still awaiting consideration by the Council of the European Union.

The Council not yet discussed the proposal, which means that any decision on abandoning time changes can enter into force in 2022 at the earliest.

The coronavirus pandemic also postponed the debate on changing the clocks.

It is unlikely that clock changes will be abandoned in the next few years, said Ministry of Transport and Communications in a press release.

If a decision is reached in the EU to end the practice of daylight-saving time, the Finnish Parliament will choose the permanent standard time for Finland.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has proposed that all EU Member States stop adjusting the clocks for daylight saving. Finland cannot make a decision on abandoning time changes at the national level as the matter must be decided on by the EU.

Clocks are changed in all EU Member States at the same time on the same date. Clocks are always changed on the last Sunday of March and October.

Early Sunday morning was chosen as the time causing the least inconvenience because the volume of traffic is at its lowest then.

Finland adopted the Daylight Saving Time without interruption since 1981 as the last country in Europe.

In 2018, the European Commission proposed that the biannual clock changes be abandoned across the EU in a harmonised manner. The Member States would remain free to decide nationally which time they want to adopt on a permanent basis.

Of the Member States, Finland has advocated abandoning seasonal time changes the most actively.

People, businesses and other stakeholders were widely consulted in Finland to facilitate national decision-making. The results showed that many were in favour of abandoning clock changes. While both summer and winter time were supported fairly evenly, winter time gained slightly more popularity.

Finland does not currently have a formal final position on the choice of permanent year-round time. Finland underlines the importance of avoiding fragmentation of time zones.

The European Parliament voted on the Commission’s proposal as early as in spring 2019, when it adopted the legislative proposal to discontinue clock changes. At that time, the Parliament proposed that clocks be changed for the last time in 2021.

There will be some changes in the bus and train schedules because of the winter time and the people have been asked to follow the timetables mentioned at the bus stoppages for local services.

The schedule for the intercity and long distance bus services will be available on the websites.