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, the initial target schedule for the proposal has not been met.

The proposal is still awaiting consideration by the Council of the EU as the issue shall be decided jointly by the Council and the Parliament.

Not all Member States have yet taken a stand on the matter, which would be required for the matter to be considered by the Council. So the matter is not currently under discussion in the Council.

It is unlikely that clock changes will be abandoned in the next few years.

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.

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.

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.