Clocks Go Back: EU on 25 October, US on 1 November 2026 — and Why Turkey Doesn't

Europe and North America end summer time a week apart in 2026. Clocks in the European Union and the United Kingdom went back one hour on Sunday, 25 October 2026, at 01:00 UTC. In the United States, daylight saving time ends on Sunday, 1 November 2026, at 2:00 a.m. local time, when clocks fall back to 1:00 a.m. Turkey changes neither date: it has stayed on UTC+3 all year since 2016. The US change goes ahead even though the House of Representatives voted on 14 July 2026 to make daylight saving time permanent, because the Sunshine Protection Act has not passed the Senate. Until 1 November, New York is four hours behind London instead of five, and from that day Istanbul is eight hours ahead of New York.

When did the clocks go back in Europe?

The legal basis in the EU is Directive 2000/84/EC on summer-time arrangements. It sets the end of summer time in every member state at 1:00 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on the last Sunday in October, and the start at the same hour on the last Sunday in March. A Council of the EU note of 20 October 2025 restates the rule: all participating countries switch at the same moment, 01:00 UTC, while the local clock time differs by time zone. In Germany the night from Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 October had 25 hours, as web.de reported on 19 October 2026: at 3:00 the clock jumped back to 2:00 and Central European Time (MEZ), officially called standard time, applied again. The UK government's own calendar listed the same Sunday: clocks went back at 2am on 25 October 2026 and go forward at 1am on 28 March 2027. In Germany, legal time is kept by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig; its time and frequency department, headed by Ekkehard Peik, distributes it via the DCF77 longwave transmitter, the internet and satellite links, which web.de says resets around 100 million radio-controlled clocks.

When do US clocks fall back in 2026?

Federal law, the Uniform Time Act as codified in 15 U.S.C. 260a, sets daylight saving time in the United States from 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March to 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday in November. In 2026 that is Sunday, 1 November: at 2:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time clocks go back to 1:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (UTC−5), and the same happens at 2:00 a.m. local time in the Central, Mountain and Pacific zones. Unlike the EU, where every country switches at the same instant, each US time zone changes at its own local 2 a.m., so the switch rolls westward over four hours. States may opt out of daylight saving time by state law, but they cannot choose their own dates. According to the US Department of Transportation, Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and the US Virgin Islands do not observe it, so their clocks do not move on 1 November. The next US switch forward is on Sunday, 14 March 2027, two weeks before Europe's.

Canada usually changes on the same night as the US, but fewer Canadians will do so this year. British Columbia announced in March 2026 that most of the province would move to permanent daylight time, and Manitoba said in September 2026 that its clocks will not revert to standard time on 1 November, CBC News reported; Yukon had already stopped changing earlier.

What is the Sunshine Protection Act — and will it pass?

The Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 (H.R. 139), introduced by Florida Republican Vern Buchanan on 3 January 2025, would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide, ending the twice-yearly change on the summer setting. The House of Representatives passed it on 14 July 2026 by 308 votes to 117, according to the House Clerk's roll call 238: 193 Republicans, 114 Democrats and one independent voted yes; 22 Republicans and 95 Democrats voted no. Under the bill, a state could stay on standard time all year only if it opted out before the act took effect, the Guardian reported. The Senate companion, S. 29 from Florida Senator Rick Scott, and the House-passed bill both sit with the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. The Senate had passed a similar bill by unanimous consent in 2022, but the House never voted on it and it expired at the end of that Congress.

The Senate is where the bill has stalled. Majority Leader John Thune said on 5 October 2026 that there was no clear path forward or consensus yet, TIME reported. The most vocal opponent is Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton, who argues that permanent summer time would bring very late winter sunrises and points to 1974, when the US tried year-round daylight time and repealed it; Mississippi Republican Roger Wicker has raised the safety of children waiting for school buses in the dark. President Donald Trump backs the bill and on 3 October 2026 posted what appeared to be Cotton's mobile number, urging Arkansans to call him. Sleep scientists take a third position: the American Academy of Sleep Medicine supports permanent standard time instead and has endorsed a rival bill, the Sunshine for Our Kids Act. Public opinion favours ending the switch but not a specific option: in a 2025 AP-NORC poll only 12% of US adults supported the current system, 47% opposed it and 40% were neutral.

Why doesn't Turkey change its clocks?

Turkey moved its clocks forward as usual at 03:00 on 27 March 2016 and then never moved them back. A Council of Ministers decision, No. 2016/9154, published in the Resmi Gazete (Official Gazette) on 8 September 2016, made that summer-time setting apply all year, fixing the country at UTC+3. NTV reported that the Energy Ministry had sent the draft to the Prime Ministry on 6 September 2016. The legal basis was Law No. 697, which lets the government set summer time within limits. The decision was challenged in court. A parent complained that children were travelling to school before dawn in winter. According to Hukuki Haber and NTV, the Council of State's 10th Chamber rejected a stay request on 9 May 2017, but on 14 September 2017 its Plenary of Administrative Law Chambers suspended the decision by majority vote, finding that the cabinet could set start and end dates but not make summer time permanent. The government did not change course: Energy Minister Berat Albayrak said on 28 September 2017 that Turkey would continue on the same path and called the ruling procedural, citing an Istanbul Technical University study estimating about 540 million lira in savings, as Bianet reported. The Chamber of Electrical Engineers (EMO) had argued the opposite, putting the extra consumption at about 7 billion kWh. Turkey has stayed on UTC+3 since; Dünya confirmed on 5 October 2026 that clocks will not go back in 2026.

Time difference between Germany, the UK, the US and Turkey

Germany–Turkey: 1 hour in summer (Berlin UTC+2, Istanbul UTC+3); 2 hours from 25 October 2026 to 28 March 2027 (Berlin UTC+1). UK–Turkey: 2 hours in summer (London UTC+1); 3 hours from 25 October 2026 to 28 March 2027 (London UTC+0). US East Coast–Turkey: 7 hours until 1 November 2026 (New York UTC−4); 8 hours from 1 November 2026 to 14 March 2027 (New York UTC−5). US West Coast–Turkey: 10 hours, then 11. UK–US East Coast: 4 hours between 25 October and 1 November 2026, otherwise 5; Germany–US East Coast: 5 hours in that week, otherwise 6. The same mismatch returns between 14 and 28 March 2027. Example in winter: 12:00 noon in Istanbul is 10:00 in Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam or Paris, 9:00 in London, 4:00 in New York and 1:00 in Los Angeles.

Airline timetables are always printed in local time at each airport, so a departure from Istanbul and an arrival in Cologne or Düsseldorf are each shown in that city's clock. Since 25 October, a hypothetical three-hour flight leaving Istanbul at 10:00 lands in Germany around 11:00 local time rather than noon. Smartphones and radio clocks adjust automatically; Turkish media advise that devices set to the 'Turkey/Istanbul' zone need no manual change, while ovens, car clocks and wristwatches still need adjusting by hand. Families in Germany and the UK calling relatives in Turkey, and anyone booking video calls, consular or medical appointments across the border, should recheck times for both 25 October and 1 November; for transatlantic calls the week in between is the one most often missed.

Is the EU still planning to abolish the clock change?

Formally, yes, but the file has been stuck for six years. The European Commission proposed ending seasonal changes on 12 September 2018, after a public consultation in which 84% of respondents backed it; web.de notes only 4.6 million people took part, three million of them from Germany. The European Parliament voted for abolition on 26 March 2019 by 410 to 192 with 51 abstentions, setting 2021 as the target, according to Yle. Member states in the Council never agreed. On 20 October 2025 Spain asked energy ministers to restart negotiations, arguing that studies show no meaningful energy savings; Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he no longer saw the point of changing clocks. In 2025 the Polish Council presidency had floated a two-year EU-wide trial of permanent summer time, and member states asked for more analysis.

The main argument in 2026 is health, not energy. A review led by Raymond Lam of the University of British Columbia, reported by dpa on 6 October 2026, concluded that permanent standard (winter) time is likely healthier than permanent summer time, because morning light stabilises the body clock; sleep societies make the same recommendation. The same report notes that the US (1974) and Russia (2011–2014) both tried permanent summer time and reversed it. Turkey is not alone outside the system: Iceland, Russia, Georgia, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico do not change their clocks either, according to a dpa-based web.de overview updated on 28 March 2026. Mexico last changed its clocks in autumn 2022; Ukraine voted in 2024 to scrap the change, but the law was never signed and did not take effect.

What happens next

1 November 2026, 2:00 a.m. local time: the US and most of Canada end daylight saving time; British Columbia and Manitoba stay on daylight time; Istanbul–New York becomes 8 hours. End of 2026: a Commission study, launched in February 2026 and run by Ecorys, Capgemini, Stratec and CE Delft, is due. According to a Council note of 3 June 2026, it is modelling ten scenarios, including permanent summer or winter time and new time borders between member states. 3 January 2027: the 119th US Congress ends; the Sunshine Protection Act lapses unless the Senate passes it first and the President signs it. 14 March 2027: US clocks spring forward. 28 March 2027, 01:00 UTC: EU and UK clocks go forward; the Germany–Turkey gap shrinks back to 1 hour. 31 October 2027: the next scheduled switch back in Europe, unless the EU decides otherwise. Any abolition still needs a qualified majority of member states in the Council and agreement with Parliament.