java.time: Does the CET time zone considers daylight saving time?

Question

I use the new java.time implementation of Java 8 and wonder about the output of a UTC to CET time conversion result.

ZonedDateTime utcTime = ZonedDateTime.of(2014, 7, 1, 8, 0, 0, 0, ZoneId.of("UTC"));
ZonedDateTime cetTime = ZonedDateTime.ofInstant(utcTime.toInstant(), ZoneId.of("CET"));
System.out.println("Summer-UTC-Time: " + utcTime);
System.out.println("Summer-CET-Time: " + cetTime);

System.out.println();

utcTime = ZonedDateTime.of(2014, 1, 1, 8, 0, 0, 0, ZoneId.of("UTC"));
cetTime = ZonedDateTime.ofInstant(utcTime.toInstant(), ZoneId.of("CET"));
System.out.println("Winter-UTC-Time: " + utcTime);
System.out.println("Winter-CET-Time: " + cetTime);

I expected that the CET time would always be +1 of the UTC time but instead I got:

Summer-UTC-Time: 2014-07-01T08:00Z[UTC]
Summer-CET-Time: 2014-07-01T10:00+02:00[CET] -> +2 **Unexpected**

Winter-UTC-Time: 2014-01-01T08:00Z[UTC]
Winter-CET-Time: 2014-01-01T09:00+01:00[CET] -> +1 Expected

So apparently I have to deal with daylight saving time which I did not expect when using CET. Is the java.time CET in truth CEST? And if yes, what zone should I use if I need CET?

Answer 1

The IANA definition of CET is that it follows the time-zone rules of Central Europe, which includes both winter and summer time. The rules can be seen here, which shows that "CET" is based on "C-Eur" which includes summer time.

In java.time you can also see the full set of rules:

ZoneId zone = ZoneId.of("CET");
System.out.println(zone);
System.out.println(zone.getRules());
for (ZoneOffsetTransition trans : zone.getRules().getTransitions()) {
  System.out.println(trans);
}
for (ZoneOffsetTransitionRule rule : zone.getRules().getTransitionRules()) {
  System.out.println(rule);
}

which prints:

CET
ZoneRules[currentStandardOffset=+01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1916-04-30T23:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1916-10-01T01:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1917-04-16T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1917-09-17T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1918-04-15T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1918-09-16T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1940-04-01T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1942-11-02T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1943-03-29T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1943-10-04T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1944-04-03T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1944-10-02T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1945-04-02T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1945-09-16T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1977-04-03T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1977-09-25T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1978-04-02T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1978-10-01T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1979-04-01T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1979-09-30T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1980-04-06T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1980-09-28T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1981-03-29T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1981-09-27T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1982-03-28T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1982-09-26T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1983-03-27T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1983-09-25T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1984-03-25T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1984-09-30T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1985-03-31T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1985-09-29T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1986-03-30T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1986-09-28T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1987-03-29T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1987-09-27T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1988-03-27T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1988-09-25T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1989-03-26T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1989-09-24T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1990-03-25T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1990-09-30T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1991-03-31T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1991-09-29T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1992-03-29T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1992-09-27T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1993-03-28T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1993-09-26T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1994-03-27T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1994-09-25T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1995-03-26T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1995-09-24T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1996-03-31T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1996-10-27T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
Transition[Gap at 1997-03-30T02:00+01:00 to +02:00]
Transition[Overlap at 1997-10-26T03:00+02:00 to +01:00]
TransitionRule[Gap +01:00 to +02:00, SUNDAY on or after MARCH 25 at 02:00 STANDARD, standard offset +01:00]
TransitionRule[Overlap +02:00 to +01:00, SUNDAY on or after OCTOBER 25 at 02:00 STANDARD, standard offset +01:00]

The key here is to understand that the time-zone identifier and the "short name" of that identifier are two different elements. The identifier is always fixed as "CET", but the name changes between "CET" and "CEST".