diff --git a/ext/intl/tests/bug68471.phpt b/ext/intl/tests/bug68471.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3d0ad313a28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/intl/tests/bug68471.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+--TEST--
+Bug #68471 (IntlDateFormatter fails for "GMT+00:00" timezone)
+--EXTENSIONS--
+intl
+--FILE--
+<?php
+$formatter = new IntlDateFormatter(
+    'fr_FR',
+    IntlDateFormatter::NONE,
+    IntlDateFormatter::NONE,
+    "GMT+00:00"
+);
+var_dump($formatter);
+?>
+--EXPECT--
+object(IntlDateFormatter)#1 (0) {
+}
diff --git a/ext/intl/timezone/timezone_class.cpp b/ext/intl/timezone/timezone_class.cpp
index 212821c77bb..64dec44f0eb 100644
--- a/ext/intl/timezone/timezone_class.cpp
+++ b/ext/intl/timezone/timezone_class.cpp
@@ -175,8 +175,7 @@ U_CFUNC TimeZone *timezone_process_timezone_argument(zval *zv_timezone,
 		return timezone_convert_datetimezone(tzobj->type, tzobj, 0,
 			outside_error, func);
 	} else {
-		UnicodeString	id,
-						gottenId;
+		UnicodeString	id;
 		UErrorCode		status = U_ZERO_ERROR; /* outside_error may be NULL */
 		if (!try_convert_to_string(zv_timezone)) {
 			zval_ptr_dtor_str(&local_zv_tz);
@@ -203,7 +202,7 @@ U_CFUNC TimeZone *timezone_process_timezone_argument(zval *zv_timezone,
 			zval_ptr_dtor_str(&local_zv_tz);
 			return NULL;
 		}
-		if (timeZone->getID(gottenId) != id) {
+		if (*timeZone == TimeZone::getUnknown()) {
 			spprintf(&message, 0, "%s: No such time zone: '%s'",
 				func, Z_STRVAL_P(zv_timezone));
 			if (message) {