IANA tz database · zone identifier

Europe/Bucharest

The IANA tz database identifier for Eastern European Standard Time in Romania. Store this string — not the abbreviation, not the offset — and your timestamps stay correct forever.

UTC+03:00Abbreviation EESTObserves daylight saving
Time in Europe/Bucharest☾ Night
01:59:38
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Offset
UTC+03:00
Abbreviation
EEST
DST
Active

Current offset

UTC+03:00

standard UTC+02:00 · daylight UTC+03:00

Abbreviation

EEST

the daylight-saving form

DST behaviour

Observes

changes clocks twice a year

Country

🇷🇴 Romania

ISO 3166: RO · view country page →

Using this identifier

The string to put in your code.

Europe/Bucharest is the identifier to use in code and config for this region. Every modern language, database, and OS resolves it through the same tz database, so the examples here behave identically everywhere.

Avoid storing EEST or +03:00 — abbreviations are ambiguous and fixed offsets can't follow rule changes.

// format a date in this zone
new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', {
timeZone: 'Europe/Bucharest',
dateStyle: 'full', timeStyle: 'long'
}).format(new Date());

Offset & DST behaviour

Two offsets,
every year.

Europe/Bucharest alternates between EET (UTC+02:00) and EEST (UTC+03:00). Right now it is on EEST; clocks fall back on 25 October 2026.

The year at a glance

EET · UTC+02:00EEST · UTC+03:00EET · UTC+02:0029 Mar · +1h25 Oct · −1h Jan 2026 Dec

Technical record

The database entry, in full.

source: IANA tz database · release 2026d

IdentifierEurope/Bucharest
ISO country codeRO🇷🇴 Romania
Reference coordinates44.43°N, 26.10°Etz database reference point
Standard offsetUTC+02:00abbreviation EET
Daylight offsetUTC+03:00abbreviation EEST
tzdb release2026ddata current as of this IANA release

Where it applies

All of Romania, one clock.

Looking for travel-friendly info? See Bucharest or Eastern European Standard Time.

🇷🇴
Romania

19M people, one time zone. The whole country resolves to Europe/Bucharest.

Country page →
🇷🇴 Bucharest
01:59
01:59:38 · EEST
pop. 1.7MEET

Related identifiers

Nearby in the database.

Same zone group · Eastern European Standard Time

other identifiers keeping EET

Same offset · UTC+03:00

other zones keeping this offset right now

Frequently asked questions

Answers specific to this identifier — generated from the database record. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].

What UTC offset is Europe/Bucharest?
Europe/Bucharest is currently UTC+03:00 (EEST). It alternates between UTC+02:00 in winter and UTC+03:00 in summer.
Does Europe/Bucharest observe daylight saving time?
Yes. Clocks fall back at the next transition on 25 October 2026, as they do twice every year.
Which country uses Europe/Bucharest?
Romania. The identifier covers the whole country.
Is Europe/Bucharest the same as EET?
Europe/Bucharest is one of the IANA zones that keeps Eastern European Standard Time (EET). Use Europe/Bucharest in software — EET is a human-friendly label, not a valid identifier.

Free · Developer API

This zone, as JSON.

Its live offset, abbreviation, DST status and next clock change, plus its coordinates and country, from one endpoint.

GET /v1/timezones Live

Also in the API: time zones by coordinates, conversions that flag daylight saving gaps, and abbreviations decoded.

Get your free API key → All endpoints Plans and pricing

Moving off WorldTimeAPI? Our drop-in replacement needs no key.

// this identifier, resolved live
GET /v1/timezones/Europe/Bucharest
{
"data": {
"iana": "Europe/Bucharest",
"observes_dst": true,
"country": { "code": "RO", "name": "Romania" },
"current": {
"utc_offset": "+03:00",
"abbreviation": "EEST",
…
},
…
}
}