diff --git a/openerp-server b/openerp-server
index 021c39ecb16..c42651dc419 100755
--- a/openerp-server
+++ b/openerp-server
@@ -232,6 +232,8 @@ def quit_on_signals():
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
 
+    os.environ["TZ"] = "UTC"
+
     check_root_user()
     openerp.tools.config.parse_config(sys.argv[1:])
     check_postgres_user()
diff --git a/openerp/tools/misc.py b/openerp/tools/misc.py
index 4aa438e9471..dbccbe5b217 100644
--- a/openerp/tools/misc.py
+++ b/openerp/tools/misc.py
@@ -984,10 +984,7 @@ def detect_server_timezone():
     return 'UTC'
 
 def get_server_timezone():
-    # timezone detection is safe in multithread, so lazy init is ok here
-    if (not config['timezone']):
-        config['timezone'] = detect_server_timezone()
-    return config['timezone']
+    return "UTC"
 
 
 DEFAULT_SERVER_DATE_FORMAT = "%Y-%m-%d"