At night from Saturday to Sunday, Poles changed the time from Daylight Saving Time (DST) to standard time. Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of setting the clocks forward one hour from standard time during the summer months, and back again in the fall, in order to make better use of natural daylight. Clocks are set forward 1 hour for DST in the spring.
Throughout the European Union, DST is changet to standard time on the last Sunday in October, and to daylight saving time on the last Sunday in March. This is stated in the unlimited EU directive of January 2001: “From 2002, the summer time period ends in each Member State at 1.00 am GMT on the last Sunday in October”.
In Poland, the change of time is regulated by the regulation of the Prime Minister of March 4, 2022. For the next five years, unless the European Commission returns to work on departing from time changes, DST and standart time will apply.
Work on ending time changes has been suspended at European level before the pandemic. Issued every five years for the next five years, the European Commission Communication introduces a date and time common in all Member States for the commencement and end of the summer time period.
The IBRiS survey for Radio ZET conducted in October 2022 shows that almost 80% Poles are against the change from summer to winter time.
The discussion on the legitimacy of changing the clock in the European Union has been going on for several years. A public consultation conducted by the European Commission among Europeans in 2018 showed that 84 percent. respondents were in favour of abolishing time changes. 4.6 million responses were collected (the highest number in history).
The European Commission – at the request of citizens, following the resolution of the EP, and also based on a number of scientific studies – therefore proposed in September 2018 to abandon seasonal clock changes. Work on the project was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is no shortage of research on the impact of changing time on our health, well-being, environment and economy. A study of electricity consumption in the state of Indiana (USA) showed that residents’ electricity bills increased after the introduction of daylight saving time. On the other hand, research conducted in California proved that in this state the change of time does not cause changes in the demand for electricity.
The Japanese calculated that using daylight saving time could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 400,000. tons and help save up to 930 million liters of fuel. In addition, it contributes to the decrease in the number of street thefts by 10%..
Today, in the economic dimension, time changes are mainly costs. They are especially noticeable in logistic systems – where a shift work system is used or in electronic systems conducting financial transactions on a global scale.
Daylight saving time arrangements were introduced by European countries in the last century with the aim of saving energy, in particular during the war and the oil crisis in the 1970s. (PAP)