Slovakia fines media firms for mentioning Britain, rather the UK, during Brexit

Oddly, the UK's embassy in Slovakia refers to itself as the British Embassy

Slovakia's media organisations have been penalised with fines of up to 6,600 euros for referring to Britain instead of the United Kingdom throughout the Brexit process, according to BBC online.

News outlets have been notified by a state agency charged with enforcing uniform use of official country names. The charges are based on a law passed back in 1995, two years after gaining independence following Czechoslovakia's break-up.

The Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Authority said it was acting on dozens of tips from readers. It says it plans to hold a seminar on using the correct way of mentioning the UK for the media before it starts collecting fines.

A letter sent to all media outlets in Slovakia last week had warned they had "repeatedly broken the law" by using Britain or Great Britain in coverage of the country's exit from the EU rather than the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

"Our key goal is to raise awareness. We never fined anyone in the past but we are ready to enforce the law," said agency chief Maria Fridrichova. A majority of media outlets did not rephrase articles even after days of receiving the letter.



"I think the letter is absurd and I will not instruct our editors to use different terms," said Beata Baloghova, editor in chief of SME daily.

A list of official country names on the agency website showed that a shortened United Kingdom is allowed, as well as abbreviated names of other states like Germany and Macedonia.

Interestingly, even the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Slovakia refers to itself as the British Embassy.

The embassy said it did not mind the term Britain being used in Slovakia. "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 allowed in published references.