diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Logger/LoggingHandlerFile.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Logger/LoggingHandlerFile.php
index 41198a063be8351895a0714113400b80ea37f1ea..4cc70f428d1e2224a3d8297f9381f8234f8caad5 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/Logger/LoggingHandlerFile.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Logger/LoggingHandlerFile.php
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ class SimpleSAML_Logger_LoggingHandlerFile implements SimpleSAML_Logger_LoggingH
         {
             if (!@touch($this->logFile))  throw new Exception("Could not create logfile: ".$this->logFile." Loggingdir is not writeable for the webserver user.");
         }
+
+	SimpleSAML_Utilities::initTimezone();
     }
 
     function log_internal($level, $string) {