The Summer Time Order 2002

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Summer Time Act 1972, which provides that summer time is one hour in advance of Greenwich mean time during a period that is specified in the Act and may be varied by Order in Council. The Act also includes power to provide that summer time is two hours in advance of GMT (‘double summer time’) during part of the summer time period. The summer time period specified in the Act runs from the third Saturday in March (or earlier if that day is Easter Day) until the fourth Saturday in October. Variations in respect of the years 1998–2001 appear in the Summer Time Order 1997 (SI 1997/2982).

The amendments in this Order implement Directive 2000/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on summer-time arrangements (OJ No. L 31, 2.2.01, p.21). The Directive defines summer time as the period during which clocks are advanced by one hour, and provides for the period to run from the last Sunday in March until the last Sunday in October (the period provided for in the 1997 Order) for the indefinite future. Article 2 of the Order substitutes this period for the period specified in the 1972 Act and repeals the powers to vary the period of summer time and provide for double summer time by Order in Council; the only other change provided for is consequential.

A Regulatory Impact Assessment of the costs and benefits of this Order to business, and a Transposition Note explaining how the Order gives effect to the Directive, have been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament. Copies are available to the public from the Employment Relations Directorate, Department of Trade and Industry, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET and are also available at the Directorate’s website www.dti.gov.uk/er.