The Netherlands, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, observes Central European Time (CET) as its standard time zone during the winter months and Central European Summer Time (CEST) during the summer months. CET is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and CEST is two hours ahead of UTC.
The Netherlands adopted CET as its standard time in 1909 and has been observing CEST since 1981. The Netherlands is part of the European Union, which has a unified time system, and the country’s time zones are regulated by the European Union.