Central European Summer Time used to be also known under other names, such as Middle European Summer Time (MEST), Central European Daylight Saving Time (CEDT) or 'Bravo time', after the 2nd letter of the phonetic alphabet. Because CEST is also used as an abbreviation of "Central European Standard Time" in many contexts, which is the UTC+1 offset used when daylight saving time is not in use, the CEST abbreviation is usually avoided. Instead, CET is used for Central European Standard Time, and CEDT is used for Central European Daylight Saving Time.
Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October; previously the rules were not uniform across the European Union.
Usage
The following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time during the summer, between 1:00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1:00 on the last Sunday of October.