diff --git a/classpath/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.java b/classpath/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.java
index 6086eaa561..44b73d5cd8 100644
--- a/classpath/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.java
+++ b/classpath/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ package java.text;
 
 import java.util.Calendar;
 import java.util.Date;
+import java.util.TimeZone;
 
 public class SimpleDateFormat {
   private String pattern;
@@ -23,6 +24,12 @@ public class SimpleDateFormat {
     }
   }
 
+  public void setTimeZone(TimeZone tz) {
+    if(!tz.getDisplayName().equals("GMT")) {
+      throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
+    }
+  }
+
   public StringBuffer format(Date date, StringBuffer buffer, FieldPosition position) {
     Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
     calendar.setTime(date);
diff --git a/classpath/java/util/TimeZone.java b/classpath/java/util/TimeZone.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dc740ca7a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/classpath/java/util/TimeZone.java
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/* Copyright (c) 2008-2013, Avian Contributors
+
+   Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software
+   for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided
+   that the above copyright notice and this permission notice appear
+   in all copies.
+
+   There is NO WARRANTY for this software.  See license.txt for
+   details. */
+
+package java.util;
+
+public class TimeZone {
+
+  // for now, we only support GMT
+  private static final TimeZone GMT = new TimeZone("GMT");
+
+  private final String name;
+
+  private TimeZone(String name) {
+    this.name = name;
+  }
+
+  public static TimeZone getTimeZone(String id) {
+    // technically the Java spec says that this method
+    // returns GMT if it can't understand the "id" parameter
+    // sigh.
+    return GMT;
+  }
+
+  public String getDisplayName() {
+    return name;
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/test/Dates.java b/test/Dates.java
index 9ee66ff27b..dfd6d72273 100644
--- a/test/Dates.java
+++ b/test/Dates.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import java.text.FieldPosition;
 import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
 import java.util.Date;
+import java.util.TimeZone;
 
 public class Dates {
   private final static long EPOCH = 1234567890;
@@ -12,6 +13,7 @@ public class Dates {
 
   public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
     SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss");
+    format.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT"));
     Date date = format.parse("1970-01-01T00:00:00");
     expect(0 == date.getTime());