Chris Carrier asks when the current (7th) summer time directive expires. Answer: the last year it covers is 1997. In response to Monty Solomon's exerpts from RISKS, the rule of `start on last Sunday in March, end on last Sunday in October' is specified in the directive, so it is more than just a de facto standard. Dik T. Winter is correct, the directive is a hard and fast law in the EU. However, remember that you are dealing with politicians here. If they feel like changing the hard and fast laws, they will, and the current 7th directive is living proof, with its change from September to October. Proposals for the eighth directive were supposed to have been produced by the Commission by 1 Jan 96. They have not yet appeared (I asked just before Easter). As this 1 Jan 96 date was specified in the 7th directive this also shows that the Commission can break the hard and fast laws as it wishes. Finally, I would like to request a change in the Europe file, changing the name of the Rule for the EU countries from EC to EU. This European entity has been called various things in English over the years, Common Market, European Economic Community (EEC), European Community (EC); but it is now almost universally referred to as the European Union. This trend will undoubtedy continue as more countries join. Things are slightly confused by the formal title of the Commission still seeming to be `The Commission of the European Communities', which I think harks back to the very early days when there were several `Communities'. I think these were the Coal, Iron & Steel Community, EURATOM, and I think one more. The Commission seem to be renaming themselves, at least on recent blurb I get from them, as the European Commission. This will allow them to steal the abbreviation EC for themselves now that the whole thing is called EU. We will then still get EC Directives, coming from the Commission. Enough of this non-tzone digression. Can I have Rule EC -> Rule EU please? Peter Ilieve peter@aldie.co.uk