diff --git a/openerpweb/dates.py b/openerpweb/dates.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..14313fd4a46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openerpweb/dates.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+##############################################################################
+#
+#    OpenERP, Open Source Management Solution
+#    Copyright (C) 2004-2009 Tiny SPRL (<http://tiny.be>).
+#    Copyright (C) 2010 OpenERP s.a. (<http://openerp.com>).
+#
+#    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+#    it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
+#    published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
+#    License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+#    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+#    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+#    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+#    GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+#
+#    You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+#    along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+##############################################################################
+
+""" We assume that, just like the OpenERP server, the python part of the client
+ doesn't need to handle timezone-aware datetimes, this could be changed in the future. """
+
+import datetime
+
+DEFAULT_SERVER_DATE_FORMAT = "%Y-%m-%d"
+DEFAULT_SERVER_TIME_FORMAT = "%H:%M:%S"
+DEFAULT_SERVER_DATETIME_FORMAT = "%s %s" % (
+    DEFAULT_SERVER_DATE_FORMAT,
+    DEFAULT_SERVER_TIME_FORMAT)
+
+def parse_datetime(str):
+    if not str:
+        return str
+    return datetime.datetime.strptime(str, DEFAULT_SERVER_DATETIME_FORMAT)
+
+def parse_date(str):
+    if not str:
+        return str
+    return datetime.datetime.strptime(str, DEFAULT_SERVER_DATE_FORMAT).date()
+
+def parse_time(str):
+    if not str:
+        return str
+    return datetime.datetime.strptime(str, DEFAULT_SERVER_TIME_FORMAT).time()
+
+def format_datetime(obj):
+    if not obj:
+        return False
+    return obj.strftime(DEFAULT_SERVER_DATETIME_FORMAT)
+
+def format_date(obj):
+    if not obj:
+        return False
+    return obj.strftime(DEFAULT_SERVER_DATE_FORMAT)
+
+def format_time(obj):
+    if not obj:
+        return False
+    return obj.strftime(DEFAULT_SERVER_TIME_FORMAT)