def date(self):
        """DATE command.

        Coordinated Universal time from the perspective of the usenet server.
        It can be used to provide information that might be useful when using
        the NEWNEWS command.

        See <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3977#section-7.1>

        Returns:
            The UTC time according to the server as a datetime object.

        Raises:
            NNTPDataError: If the timestamp can't be parsed.
        """
        code, message = self.command("DATE")
        if code != 111:
            raise NNTPReplyError(code, message)

        ts = date.datetimeobj(message, fmt="%Y%m%d%H%M%S")

        return ts