The current time in CET is Central European Time · UTC+1 on today in CET. Central European Time is a standard-time designation fixed at UTC+1. CET itself does not move to UTC+2; locations that observe Central European Time daylight saving rules use CEST (UTC+2) during that part of the year.
Central European Time is one hour ahead of UTC. The live clock above updates every second and is calculated from the fixed UTC+01:00 offset.
CET means Central European Time. It is the standard-time label used by many European locations in winter. During the European summer-time period, cities such as Paris, Berlin and Rome use CEST (UTC+2), not CET.
Your comparison becomes available when your browser time zone is detected. The difference uses CET's fixed UTC+1 offset and your location's current date-aware UTC offset.
Your browser time zone is used only for this comparison. The CET clock always remains fixed at UTC+1.
The essential facts behind Central European Time, including its fixed UTC offset and its relationship with Central European Time and Central European Summer Time.
CET and CEST are fixed-offset designations. A European location uses whichever designation applies under its current date-aware civil-time rules.
No. Central European Time remains UTC+1. CET itself stays at UTC+1. What changes is the designation used by locations following the Central European summer-time schedule: they switch from CET to CEST (UTC+2) in spring and return to CET in autumn.
CET is used as standard time across much of Central Europe and is also used year-round in parts of North Africa. The live cards below distinguish year-round UTC+1 locations from European cities that switch to CEST in summer.
A location being UTC+1 does not automatically mean its local clock is called CET. For geographic time, use the location-specific current-time page; for seasonal European context, compare CET with CEST and the location’s IANA time zone.
Compare fixed Central European Time with major time-zone entities. These rows use the named abbreviation's fixed offset rather than a geographic location's seasonal civil-time rules.
| Time Zone | Current Time | Difference From CET | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| UTC | Current time | 1 hour behind CET | UTC is one hour behind CET. |
| GMT | Current time | 1 hour behind CET | GMT is one hour behind CET. |
| CEST | Current time | 1 hour ahead of CET | CEST is UTC+2. |
| EET | Current time | 1 hour ahead of CET | Eastern European Time is UTC+2. |
| BST | Current time | Same time as CET | British Summer Time is UTC+1. |
| EST | Current time | 6 hours behind CET | EST is UTC−5. |
| IST | Current time | 4 hr 30 min ahead of CET | India Standard Time is UTC+5:30. |
| JST | Current time | 8 hours ahead of CET | Japan Standard Time is UTC+9. |
Choose a source location, date and time. The source is interpreted with its date-aware IANA rules, while the result is always Central European Time at fixed UTC+1.
Source-location examples use today's date in each source zone. The CET result itself is always calculated at UTC+1.
Enter a time in Central European Time for today's date in CET. CalendarHours converts that fixed UTC+1 wall time to the time zone reported by your browser.
For other dates, locations and directional pairs, use the full converter.
A CET conversion always starts from UTC+1. A geographic conversion from Paris, Berlin or Rome may start from UTC+1 or UTC+2 depending on the selected date.
Central European Time (CET) is the standard-time designation at UTC+1. Across much of Europe, CET is used during standard time and CEST (UTC+2) is used during the summer-time period.
The European Union’s published summer-time schedule places the 2026 changeovers on March 29 and October 25 at 1:00 a.m. UTC. Geographic pages should use an IANA identifier such as Europe/Paris so the selected date determines whether CET or CEST applies.
The CET clock is calculated directly from UTC+01:00, so its offset never changes with the season. Geographic comparisons use IANA time-zone identifiers such as Europe/Paris to determine the correct civil-time offset for the requested date.
When available, this page checks the same-origin CalendarHours HTTP Date header to reduce dependence on a mis-set device clock and otherwise uses the visitor's browser clock.
Many Central European locations do not use CET all year. This live comparison uses Paris as a representative location and shows whether its current civil time is CET or CEST.
Use geographic current-time pages when you need the actual civil time in a place. These pages use each place’s current civil-time rules instead of assuming CET year-round.
Use the page that matches the task: fixed CET, daylight CEST, the Central European Time umbrella, or a specific location.
Continue with the most useful CET, Central European Time and converter references.
Because CET is fixed at UTC+1, common fixed-offset comparisons are simple. For geographic locations, use date-aware conversion because summer time may change the local offset.
The CET clock, visitor comparison, fixed-offset comparison table and converters update automatically. CET itself is calculated as UTC+1. Geographic Central European civil-time status is derived separately from IANA time-zone rules.
European summer-time schedule: the EU schedule for 2026 runs from March 29 to October 25, with the coordinated change at 1:00 a.m. UTC. Geographic time-zone rules: IANA tzdb provides date-aware transitions for locations such as Europe/Paris, Europe/Berlin and Europe/Rome.
Reviewed August 21, 2026. IANA architecture baseline: tzdb 2026c. This URL is evergreen; the CET clock and comparisons update automatically.
The current Central European Time is shown live at the top of this page. CET is fixed at UTC+1, one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time.
Yes. Central European Time is UTC+1. CET itself does not become UTC+2 during daylight saving time.
No. Paris uses CET (UTC+1) during standard time and CEST (UTC+2) during the European summer-time period.
CET is UTC+1 and CEST is UTC+2. CEST is therefore one hour ahead of CET.
Paris switches between CET and CEST. The live comparison above uses Europe/Paris to show which abbreviation applies for the current date. For Paris’s actual local time, see Current Time in Paris.
CET is the standard-time designation and remains UTC+1. Central European Time locations that observe daylight saving time typically switch to CEST (UTC+2) rather than changing the CET offset.
Many European countries use CET during standard time and switch to CEST in summer. Algeria and Tunisia remain on UTC+1 through the year and are commonly listed as CET locations. Always use a place-specific page when you need legal local time.
Yes. Use the CET-to-local converter above for today's CET date, or use the Time Zone Converter for other dates and locations.