diff --git a/docs/getting_started.rst b/docs/getting_started.rst
index 6655d8d6..8ee37162 100644
--- a/docs/getting_started.rst
+++ b/docs/getting_started.rst
@@ -130,6 +130,8 @@ automatically installed without any action on your part:
   utilities
 * `MarkupSafe <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/MarkupSafe>`_, for a markup safe
   string implementation
+* `python-dateutil <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/python-dateutil>`_, to read
+  the date metadata
 
 If you want the following optional packages, you will need to install them
 manually via ``pip``:
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_utils.py b/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
index f6f96a1c..9047593f 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -41,6 +41,12 @@ class TestUtils(LoggedTestCase):
         date = datetime.datetime(year=2012, month=11, day=22)
         date_hour = datetime.datetime(
             year=2012, month=11, day=22, hour=22, minute=11)
+        date_hour_z = datetime.datetime(
+            year=2012, month=11, day=22, hour=22, minute=11,
+            tzinfo=pytz.timezone('UTC'))
+        date_hour_est = datetime.datetime(
+            year=2012, month=11, day=22, hour=22, minute=11,
+            tzinfo=pytz.timezone('EST'))
         date_hour_sec = datetime.datetime(
             year=2012, month=11, day=22, hour=22, minute=11, second=10)
         date_hour_sec_z = datetime.datetime(
@@ -61,22 +67,42 @@ class TestUtils(LoggedTestCase):
             '22/11/2012': date,
             '22.11.2012': date,
             '22.11.2012 22:11': date_hour,
+            '2012-11-22T22:11Z': date_hour_z,
+            '2012-11-22T22:11-0500': date_hour_est,
             '2012-11-22 22:11:10': date_hour_sec,
             '2012-11-22T22:11:10Z': date_hour_sec_z,
             '2012-11-22T22:11:10-0500': date_hour_sec_est,
             '2012-11-22T22:11:10.123Z': date_hour_sec_frac_z,
             }
 
+        # examples from http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime
+        iso_8601_date = datetime.datetime(year=1997, month=7, day=16)
+        iso_8601_date_hour_tz = datetime.datetime(
+            year=1997, month=7, day=16, hour=19, minute=20,
+            tzinfo=pytz.timezone('CET'))
+        iso_8601_date_hour_sec_tz = datetime.datetime(
+            year=1997, month=7, day=16, hour=19, minute=20, second=30,
+            tzinfo=pytz.timezone('CET'))
+        iso_8601_date_hour_sec_ms_tz = datetime.datetime(
+            year=1997, month=7, day=16, hour=19, minute=20, second=30,
+            microsecond=450000, tzinfo=pytz.timezone('CET'))
+        iso_8601 = {
+            '1997-07-16': iso_8601_date,
+            '1997-07-16T19:20+01:00': iso_8601_date_hour_tz,
+            '1997-07-16T19:20:30+01:00': iso_8601_date_hour_sec_tz,
+            '1997-07-16T19:20:30.45+01:00': iso_8601_date_hour_sec_ms_tz,
+        }
+
         # invalid ones
         invalid_dates = ['2010-110-12', 'yay']
 
-        if version_info < (3, 2):
-            dates.pop('2012-11-22T22:11:10-0500')
-            invalid_dates.append('2012-11-22T22:11:10-0500')
 
         for value, expected in dates.items():
             self.assertEqual(utils.get_date(value), expected, value)
 
+        for value, expected in iso_8601.items():
+            self.assertEqual(utils.get_date(value), expected, value)
+
         for item in invalid_dates:
             self.assertRaises(ValueError, utils.get_date, item)
 
diff --git a/pelican/utils.py b/pelican/utils.py
index 822e50e9..c5aacaa3 100644
--- a/pelican/utils.py
+++ b/pelican/utils.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import traceback
 
 from collections import Hashable
 from contextlib import contextmanager
-from datetime import datetime
+import dateutil.parser
 from functools import partial
 from itertools import groupby
 from jinja2 import Markup
@@ -181,39 +181,10 @@ def get_date(string):
     If no format matches the given date, raise a ValueError.
     """
     string = re.sub(' +', ' ', string)
-    formats = [
-        # ISO 8601
-        '%Y',
-        '%Y-%m',
-        '%Y-%m-%d',
-        '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M%z',
-        '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%MZ',
-        '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M',
-        '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z',
-        '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ',
-        '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S',
-        '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%f%z',
-        '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%fZ',
-        '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%f',
-        # end ISO 8601 forms
-        '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M',
-        '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S',
-        '%Y/%m/%d %H:%M',
-        '%Y/%m/%d',
-        '%d-%m-%Y',
-        '%d.%m.%Y %H:%M',
-        '%d.%m.%Y',
-        '%d/%m/%Y',
-        ]
-    for date_format in formats:
-        try:
-            date = datetime.strptime(string, date_format)
-        except ValueError:
-            continue
-        if date_format.endswith('Z'):
-            date = date.replace(tzinfo=pytz.timezone('UTC'))
-        return date
-    raise ValueError('{0!r} is not a valid date'.format(string))
+    try:
+        return dateutil.parser.parse(string)
+    except (TypeError, ValueError):
+        raise ValueError('{0!r} is not a valid date'.format(string))
 
 
 @contextmanager
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index f56a7c41..e989d549 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 from setuptools import setup
 
 requires = ['feedgenerator >= 1.6', 'jinja2 >= 2.7', 'pygments', 'docutils',
-            'pytz >= 0a', 'blinker', 'unidecode', 'six']
+            'pytz >= 0a', 'blinker', 'unidecode', 'six', 'python-dateutil']
 
 entry_points = {
     'console_scripts': [