BRITISH
SUMMER TIME
TRANSPOSITION
NOTE
Transposition
of Directive 2000/84/EC by the Summer Time Order 2002
1.
This note concerns the transposition of Directive
2000/84/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on
summer-time arrangements, adopted on 19 January 2001 (OJ No. L31,
2.2.01, p.21).
2.
Directive 2000/84/EC ("the Directive") follows a
series of Community directives fixing the date on which summer
time begins and ends in particular years.
The last of these, the Eighth Directive on summer-time
arrangements (Directive 97/44/EC), provided for the period of
summer time to run from the last Sunday in March until the last
Sunday in October in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001.
3.
The recitals set out in Directive 2000/84 (“the
Directive”) acknowledge a consensus to maintain the same period
as the period of summer time, but also identify a need in certain
sectors of industry for stable, long-term planning in order to
function properly. Because
of that, the Directive recites, provisions concerning summer time
should be laid down for an unspecified period.
4.
The Summer Time Order 2002 (“the Order”) transposes the
Directive by amending the Summer Time Act 1972 (“the 1972
Act”). The 1972 Act
specifies, in section 1(2), a particular period as the period of
summer time; it also provides, in section 2, for the period to be
varied in relation to any year by Order in Council. Previous summer time directives have been implemented by such
Orders. In recognition of
the intention underlying the Directive that the period of summer
time should no longer be variable from year to year, article 2(3)
of the Order repeals section 2 of the 1972 Act.
5.
Article 1 of the Directive defines the period of summer
time as being the period of the year during which clocks are put
forward by 60 minutes compared with the rest of the year.
It is not necessary to transpose this provision, as it is
consistent with section 1(1) of the 1972 Act.
Section 1(1) provides that summer time is one hour in
advance of Greenwich Mean Time.
6.
Article 2 of the Directive provides for the period of
summer time to begin at 1.00am GMT on the last Sunday in March,
and article 3 provides for the period to end at 1.00am GMT on the
last Sunday in October. Those
provisions are transposed without elaboration in a new section
1(2) of the 1972 Act that is substituted by article 2(2)(b) of the
Order. As originally
enacted, section 1(2) provided for summer time to begin at 2.00am
GMT on the Sunday following the third Sunday in March, or the
preceding Sunday if that Sunday was Easter Day. It
provided for summer time to end at 2.00am GMT on the Sunday
following the fourth Saturday in October.
7.
The remaining provisions of the Directive do not require
transposition.
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