Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

BACKGROUND

In the past century, seasonal resetting of clocks has been practised from time to time in Europe. The reasons have been various, but energy saving has been a recurrent one. That is one of the reasons why EU Member States have reset clocks seasonally for fairly long periods of time. The current EU legislation was implemented in 2001.

Studies show that seasonal changes of time affect transport, the internal market, agriculture, the energy sector and public health, to mention just a few sectors. It is clear that a harmonised time system is necessary for the functioning of transport and the internal market within the EU.

But in some respects changes of time have an adverse impact. In agriculture, changes of time have a negative impact on crop yields and animal welfare, interrupting the biorhythms of livestock, which, for example, affects the milking of cows. Changes of time also have a negative impact on public health, with children and older people being those most affected. Studies also show that people in general feel less well due to changes of time, suffering from the disruption of the circadian cycle, increased sleep problems and fatigue. In the energy sector it is no longer possible to perceive any clear benefits from changes of time.

Seasonal changes of time have increasingly been debated in recent years, one reflection of that being citizens’ initiatives communicated to national parliaments and the European Parliament.

In February 2018, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the Commission to revise the Directive on seasonal changes of time and, if necessary, to revise the Directive.

In summer 2018, the Commission conducted an open consultation which generated around 4.6 million responses, 84% of them in favour of abolishing seasonal changes of time.

The Commission submitted its proposal for the revision of the Directive on seasonal changes of time in September 2018. In the proposal, the Commission proposes abolishing changes of time from 1 April 2019, while allowing Member States to choose their standard time for themselves.

POSITION OF THE RAPPORTEUR

The rapporteur welcomes the debate on seasonal changes of time. The rapporteur is pleased that the Commission’s open consultation procedure on the resetting of clocks interested members of the public so much that some 4.6 million responses were received. Given that the seasonal resetting of clocks affects many citizens, the rapporteur considers it positive that the debate has also resulted in a revision of the Directive.

The rapporteur supports the Commission’s proposal to abolish the seasonal resetting of clocks. However, the rapporteur considers the Commission proposal to be somewhat premature, as no proper impact assessment was performed before the proposal to revise the Directive was drawn up. The Commission’s open consultation was also conducted over a relatively short period, eight weeks, rather than the customary 12 weeks. This is regrettable, as impact assessments of legislative proposals are an important way of providing policy-makers with sufficient information to base their final decision on.

In order to ensure the proper functioning of transport and the internal market, the rapporteur believes that a harmonised time system within the EU is essential. However, the rapporteur considers it important for Member States to retain the power to determine their own standard time at national level. Therefore, in order to ensure the proper functioning of transport and the internal market, the rapporteur encourages the Member States to coordinate their work on the choice of time zone and standard time among themselves. Decisions on this could be coordinated by exchanging information between responsible contact points in the Member States in the form of a network.

The rapporteur supports the Commission’s proposal that Member States should notify the Commission before any changes are made to standard time. However, the same information should also be given to the Member States at the same time as to the Commission. The coordinated exchange of information may be facilitated by the network between responsible contact points in the Member States proposed by the rapporteur.

As predictability and a long-term view are needed for the proper functioning of transport and the internal market, the rapporteur suggests that, when standard time is to be altered, 18 months before the change occurs is an appropriate notice period for a Member State to inform the Commission and the other Member States.

In order to ensure the proper functioning of transport and the internal market, the rapporteur considers it appropriate to specify a transposition period of two years after the adoption of the Directive, rather than setting a specific date for its entry into force. Nevertheless, your rapporteur believes that this directive should be adopted as soon as possible.