Outlets told they had broken law by using unofficial name for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Slovak media covering the Brexit process are facing fines of up to €6,600 for using the unofficial but widely known name Britain rather than the official United Kingdom.

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News outlets have been reprimanded by a state agency charged with enforcing uniform use of official country names in publications, based on an obscure 1995 law passed when Slovakia was a newly independent state.

The Bratislava-based Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Authority said it was acting on dozens of messages from readers and planned to hold a seminar on correct terminology for the media before it started collecting fines.

A letter sent to all Slovak media outlets last week said they had repeatedly broken the law by using the names Britain and Great Britain in Brexit coverage rather than United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

“Our key goal is to raise awareness. We have never fined anyone in the past but we are ready to enforce the law,” the agency’s chief, Mária Fridrichová, said.

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Most media outlets had made no changes days after receiving the agency’s letter. “I think the letter is absurd and I will not instruct our editors to use different terms,” said Beata Balogová, editor-in-chief of the newspaper SME.

A list of official country names on the agency website shows that United Kingdom is permissible, as well as abbreviated names of other states such as Germany and Macedonia.

The British embassy said it did not mind the name Britain being used by Slovak media. “The embassy’s official logo says ‘British embassy Bratislava’ but we will comply with the Slovak law if required,” a spokeswoman said.

Slovakia’s official name is the Slovak Republic but Slovakia is legal in published references.