Since 1995 October 22 there has been a permanent one-hour difference between British time (as broadcast by MSF) and Central European Time, as broadcast by DCF-77 in Germany.

Since that date, the instants at which summer time starts and ends in all EU member states have been the same, governed by an EU directive. Member states of the EU are free to change their time zones, and they are free to accept or reject the use of summer time. Whilst Britain (or possibly, in the future, England) and Germany choose to continue to adopt summer time, and whilst they choose to continue using their current time zones, the year-round one-hour difference between MSF time and DCF-77 time will remain.