Overview
- Clocks jump from 2:00 to 3:00 in the night to Sunday, March 29, 2026, which makes the night one hour shorter.
- The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig maintains Germany’s legal time and feeds the DCF77 transmitter in Mainflingen, which broadcasts the switch to devices.
- Smartphones, laptops, smartwatches, smart TVs, radio‑controlled clocks, and many car systems update on their own, while oven and microwave displays, simple alarm clocks, analog wall and wristwatches, and older car radios need manual setting.
- For night-shift workers, DGB Rechtsschutz says the 2 to 3 a.m. hour drops without replacement and pay depends on the contract, with hourly pay usually not covering the missing hour and fixed salaries unchanged.
- A 1996 EU rule sets the change on the last Sunday in March each year, and despite a 2021 Parliament vote to end seasonal shifts the Council has not agreed, so the practice continues.