Business hours by country

The current time where your recipient works, and the hours when every office is staffed together.

Updated on:

For most of the year, Eastern Time (New York, Toronto) is behind Rome, Madrid, Berlin, Paris and Brussels by six hours and behind Lisbon by five. Pacific Time is three hours behind Eastern. This live board gives local time in the seven countries CaptainFax serves, marks each office open or closed (open roughly from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday through Friday) and works out the window they share today.

Live board

Local time and office status for the seven destination countries
CountryLocal timeOfficesWindow in your time
Belgium———
Canada———
France———
Germany———
Italy———
Portugal———
Spain———

Best shared window today

Calculating…

Hours are a guide: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Public holidays aren’t factored in. Daylight saving changes are applied automatically.

Canada spans six time zones

Toronto is the board’s Canadian reference. Across the country, the offset from Brussels ranges between four and a half hours (Newfoundland) and nine (British Columbia).

  • Pacific: Vancouver—
  • Mountain: Edmonton—
  • Central: Winnipeg—
  • Eastern: Toronto, Ottawa—
  • Atlantic: Halifax—
  • Newfoundland: St. John’s—

Timing a fax across time zones

Transmission takes a minute or two at any hour. The clock matters for what happens next: a page printed in an empty office on a Friday night may sit in a tray under other paper until Monday. Sending during the recipient’s workday makes it more likely someone picks it up that same day.

Viewed from New York, the gap with Europe is wide: by the time East Coast offices open, Europe’s afternoon is mostly over, and California’s morning arrives after Europe has closed. Canada is spread out as well. Take a Halifax clinic faxing a Vancouver pharmacy: Halifax is four hours ahead, and St. John’s adds a further half hour. Daylight saving complicates matters since the two continents change clocks on different dates, so for a few weeks each year the gap narrows by one hour.

Times rely on the IANA time zone data that your browser keeps current, and every day it recomputes the slot where all seven countries fall between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Actual hours differ by organization. Government counters, court clerks and pharmacies set their own schedules, so check them if a fax is urgent.

Time zone FAQ

Can I fax outside office hours?
Yes. CaptainFax sends around the clock, and the destination machine takes in the pages with no one beside it. Office hours merely suggest when somebody will probably read the fax.
How wide is the overlap between Canada and Europe?
With 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. offices, about two hours: 9 to 11 a.m. in Toronto is 3 to 5 p.m. in Brussels. Western Canada has none, since 9 a.m. in Vancouver is already 6 p.m. in Belgium.
Does the board account for public holidays?
No. They depend on the country, and even on the province or region. The board separates only weekdays from weekends, so consult the local calendar ahead of an important send.

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