Actually, in a worldwide database I would avoid using zone names altogether and use numbers only; whatever MET or CET is right, they're both GMT+1.
What we refer to as "timezones" are often strictly speaking two different things: (A) A fixed offset relative to UTC (e.g., in Germany MEZ = +0100 and MESZ = +0200) (B) A rule that determines the offset to UTC (e.g., in Germany MEZ is +0100 in winter and +0200 between the last Sunday of March and October, with a switch at 02:00 or 03:00). For (A), I agree that a numeric designation a la ISO 8601 is clearly the best solution. However, you will still need names in order to identify (B). What is the exact terminology with regard to (A) and (B). So far, I have heard the word "timezone" being used inconsistently for both. Markus -- Markus Kuhn, Computer Science student -- University of Erlangen, Internet Mail: <mskuhn@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de> - Germany WWW Home: <http://wwwcip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/user/mskuhn>