For one week every October, Europe and the United States fall out of sync with their daylight saving time transitions, causing confusion for international calls and meetings due to a temporary change in the time difference.
Every October, Europe and the U.S. experience a week of time confusion as they transition from daylight saving time to standard time on different dates. While most countries don't observe DST, those that do, primarily in Europe and North America, have varying clock change schedules. In the U.K. and Europe, clocks 'fall back' on the last Sunday in October, but in the U.S. and Canada, this happens on the first Sunday in November. This creates a temporary one-hour shorter time difference across the Atlantic, disrupting coordination for international calls. The practice of DST, first standardized in the early 20th century as a wartime energy conservation measure, has seen efforts to coordinate within Europe, but not globally. In the U.S., a 1966 law mandated uniform DST, with current dates set in 2005, though a 2022 Senate measure to make it permanent failed. Despite ongoing debates about its benefits and proposals to abolish it, no changes have been finalized, ensuring this annual week of transatlantic time misalignment continues.
