diff --git a/invenio_db/ext.py b/invenio_db/ext.py
index 88f723e..981b908 100644
--- a/invenio_db/ext.py
+++ b/invenio_db/ext.py
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@
 import logging
 import os
 import random
+import re
 import time
+import warnings
 from importlib.metadata import PackageNotFoundError
 from importlib.metadata import version as package_version
 from importlib.resources import files
@@ -146,13 +148,32 @@ def init_db(self, app, entry_point_group="invenio_db.models", **kwargs):
         app.config.setdefault("SQLALCHEMY_ECHO", False)
         # Needed for before/after_flush/commit/rollback events
         app.config.setdefault("SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS", True)
-        app.config.setdefault(
-            "SQLALCHEMY_ENGINE_OPTIONS",
-            # Ensure the database is using the UTC timezone for interpreting timestamps (Postgres only).
-            # This overrides any default setting (e.g. in postgresql.conf). Invenio expects the DB to receive
-            # and provide UTC timestamps in all cases, so it's important that this doesn't get changed.
-            {"connect_args": {"options": "-c timezone=UTC"}},
-        )
+
+        # Check if the DB is PostgreSQL. We don't include the `://` since the driver name
+        # usually follows the `postgres` (e.g. `postgres+psycopg2`), and we don't know 100%
+        # what the driver will be.
+        is_postgres = app.config.get("SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI").startswith("postgres")
+        if is_postgres:
+            current_engine_options = app.config.get("SQLALCHEMY_ENGINE_OPTIONS")
+            options_override = "-c timezone=UTC"
+
+            if current_engine_options is None:
+                app.config.setdefault(
+                    "SQLALCHEMY_ENGINE_OPTIONS",
+                    {"connect_args": {"options": options_override}},
+                )
+            else:
+                options_value = current_engine_options.get("connect_args", {}).get(
+                    "options", ""
+                )
+
+                if not re.search(rf"{re.escape(options_override)}( |$)", options_value):
+                    warnings.warn(
+                        "It looks like you are manually setting `SQLALCHEMY_ENGINE_OPTIONS` without specifying a UTC timezone value for PostgreSQL. "
+                        "To avoid unexpected behaviour, InvenioDB won't add an override to these options to set the time zone to UTC. "
+                        "Please note that PostgreSQL databases used with Invenio must be in UTC. If your database or connection is configured with a non-UTC "
+                        "timezone, please change this before continuing to avoid unexpected behaviour."
+                    )
 
         # Initialize Flask-SQLAlchemy extension.
         database = kwargs.get("db", db)
diff --git a/invenio_db/shared.py b/invenio_db/shared.py
index 3101012..90e59ba 100644
--- a/invenio_db/shared.py
+++ b/invenio_db/shared.py
@@ -13,10 +13,7 @@
 
 from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy as FlaskSQLAlchemy
 from sqlalchemy import Column, MetaData, event, util
-from sqlalchemy.engine import Engine
-from sqlalchemy.sql import text
 from sqlalchemy.types import DateTime, TypeDecorator
-from werkzeug.local import LocalProxy
 
 NAMING_CONVENTION = util.immutabledict(
     {
@@ -129,79 +126,6 @@ def __getattr__(self, name):
 
         return super().__getattr__(name)
 
-    def apply_driver_hacks(self, app, sa_url, options):
-        """Call before engine creation."""
-        # Don't forget to apply hacks defined on parent object.
-        super(SQLAlchemy, self).apply_driver_hacks(app, sa_url, options)
-
-        if sa_url.drivername == "sqlite":
-            connect_args = options.setdefault("connect_args", {})
-
-            if "isolation_level" not in connect_args:
-                # disable pysqlite's emitting of the BEGIN statement entirely.
-                # also stops it from emitting COMMIT before any DDL.
-                connect_args["isolation_level"] = None
-
-            if not event.contains(Engine, "connect", do_sqlite_connect):
-                event.listen(Engine, "connect", do_sqlite_connect)
-            if not event.contains(Engine, "begin", do_sqlite_begin):
-                event.listen(Engine, "begin", do_sqlite_begin)
-
-            from sqlite3 import register_adapter
-
-            def adapt_proxy(proxy):
-                """Get current object and try to adapt it again."""
-                return proxy._get_current_object()
-
-            register_adapter(LocalProxy, adapt_proxy)
-
-        elif sa_url.drivername == "postgresql+psycopg2":  # pragma: no cover
-            from psycopg2.extensions import adapt, register_adapter
-
-            def adapt_proxy(proxy):
-                """Get current object and try to adapt it again."""
-                return adapt(proxy._get_current_object())
-
-            register_adapter(LocalProxy, adapt_proxy)
-
-        elif sa_url.drivername == "mysql+pymysql":  # pragma: no cover
-            from pymysql import converters
-
-            def escape_local_proxy(val, mapping):
-                """Get current object and try to adapt it again."""
-                return converters.escape_item(
-                    val._get_current_object(),
-                    self.engine.dialect.encoding,
-                    mapping=mapping,
-                )
-
-            converters.conversions[LocalProxy] = escape_local_proxy
-            converters.encoders[LocalProxy] = escape_local_proxy
-
-        return sa_url, options
-
-
-def do_sqlite_connect(dbapi_connection, connection_record):
-    """Ensure SQLite checks foreign key constraints.
-
-    For further details see "Foreign key support" sections on
-    https://docs.sqlalchemy.org/en/latest/dialects/sqlite.html#foreign-key-support
-    """
-    # Enable foreign key constraint checking
-    cursor = dbapi_connection.cursor()
-    cursor.execute("PRAGMA foreign_keys=ON")
-    cursor.close()
-
-
-def do_sqlite_begin(dbapi_connection):
-    """Ensure SQLite transaction are started properly.
-
-    For further details see "Foreign key support" sections on
-    https://docs.sqlalchemy.org/en/rel_1_0/dialects/sqlite.html#pysqlite-serializable # noqa
-    """
-    # emit our own BEGIN
-    dbapi_connection.execute(text("BEGIN"))
-
 
 db = SQLAlchemy(metadata=metadata)
 """Shared database instance using Flask-SQLAlchemy extension.