German Federal Law Journal (Bundesgesetzblatt, BGBl.), 1978, Part I, pp. 1110–1111
25 July 1978
last amended by act on 13 September 1994 (BGBl., Teil I, p. 2322)
The [Lower House of the German] Federal Parliament has passed the following act:
(1) In official and business communication, date and time are used according to legal time.
(2) Legal time is Central European Time. It is defined as Coordinated Universal Time plus one hour.
(3) Coordinated Universal Time is defined as a time scale with the following properties:
(4) While in force, Central European Summer Time is legal time. Central European Summer Time is defined as Coordinated Universal Time plus two hours.
Legal time is represented and disseminated by the [German] Federal Physics and Technology Agency [Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, PTB].
(1) The [German] federal government is authorized, for better utilization of day light and for alignment of time keeping with neighbour countries, to introduce Central European Summer Time by decree for a time interval between 1 March and 31 October.
(2) Central European Summer Time shall start and end on a Sunday, respectively. The federal government determines in the decree according to paragraph 1 the day and the time of day at which Central European Summer Time starts and ends, as well as the designation of the hour that appears twice at the end of Central European Summer Time.
§ 9a of the aviation regulation, as well as time regulations that result from the implementation of international treaties, remain unaffected.
This act shall take effect from the day following its proclamation. At the same time, the act regarding the introduction of a uniform time definition, published in BGBl. III, division number 7141-1, in revised form, goes out of force.
Translation by Markus Kuhn
On 12 July 2008, the above Time Act was replaced by the Act on Units of Measurement and Definition of Time (BGBl. I S. 1185). The new definition of legal time there now only refers to “Coordinated Universal Time”, without detailing its definition or leap seconds any further.
created 2003-07-30 – last modified 2013-06-19 – http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/time/zeitgesetz.en.html