diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/compilation.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/compilation.go
index 7868827c345..ba7848c4316 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/compilation.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/compilation.go
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ func getBaseEnv() (*cel.Env, error) {
 		// Validate function declarations once during base env initialization,
 		// so they don't need to be evaluated each time a CEL rule is compiled.
 		// This is a relatively expensive operation.
-		opts = append(opts, cel.EagerlyValidateDeclarations(true))
+		opts = append(opts, cel.EagerlyValidateDeclarations(true), cel.DefaultUTCTimeZone(true))
 		opts = append(opts, library.ExtensionLibs...)
 
 		initEnv, initEnvErr = cel.NewEnv(opts...)