2. 8. 88 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 201/5 
Proposal for a Fifth Council Directive on summertime arrangements 
COM(88) 401 final — SYN 141 
(Submitted by the Commission on 19 July 1988) 
(88/C 201/06) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100A 
thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
In cooperation with the European Parliament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas the Fourth Council Directive 88/14/EEC of 22 
December 1987 on summertime arrangements (') 
introduced a common date and time throughout the 
Community for the beginning of the summertime period 
for 1989 and, for the end of that period in that year, two 
different dates, one for Member States apart from 
Ireland and the United Kingdom and one for Ireland 
and the United Kingdom; 
Whereas Article 5 of the Fourth Directive provides that 
the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission, 
shall adopt by 1 January 1989 the arrangements to apply 
from 1990 onwards; 
Whereas it is appropriate to re-examine the summertime 
period from time to time and for this purpose 
arrangements therefore should be adopted for 1990, 
1991 and 1992; 
Whereas a common date and time for the beginning and 
end of the summertime period should be fixed in the 
whole Community area for those years; 
Whereas, for geographical, reasons, Ireland and the 
United Kingdom should be given the possibility of 
fixing, in some or all of those three years, an end date 
different from that provided for the other Member 
States; 
Whereas, for geographical reasons, common summertime 
arrangements should not apply to the overseas territories 
of the Member States; 
O OJ No L 6, 9. 1. 1988, p. 38. HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECIWE: 
Article 1 
For the purposes of this Directive the expression 
'summertime period' means the period of the year during 
which the time is advanced by 60 minutes in relation to 
the time for the rest of the year. 
Article 2 
Member States shall take the measures necessary to 
ensure that in each Member State the summertime period 
for 1990, 1991 and 1992 begins at 1 a.m. Greenwich 
Mean Time on the last Sunday in March. 
Article 3 
1. Member States shall take the measures necessary to 
ensure that the summertime period for 1990, 1991 and 
1992 ends at 1 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on the last 
Sunday in September, that is to say: 
— in 1990: on 30 September, 
— in 1991: on 29 September, 
— in 1992: on 27 September. 
2. Ireland and the United Kingdom may however take 
the measures necessary to ensure that the summertime 
period for 1990, 1991 and 1992 ends at 1 a.m. 
Greenwich Mean Time, on the fourth Sunday in 
October, that is to say: 
— in 1990: on 28 October, 
— in 1991: on 27 October, 
— in 1992: on 25 October. 
3. Should Ireland and the United Kingdom decide 
before 1992 to align the end of their summertime period 
with those provided for in paragraph 1, they shall notify 
the Commission which will inform the other Member 
States thereof. 
Article 4 { 
The Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission, 
shall adopt by 1 January 1992 the arrangements to apply 
from 1993 onwards. 
Article 5 
This Directive shall not apply to the overseas territories 
of the Member States. 
Article 6 
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.