What’s in a name?

A new tobacco law that is being pushed through the Austrian parliament contains a spelling mistake that might make implementing a part of the law difficult, according to a story in The Local Austria.

The mistake is in the spelling of the font name Helvetica, which is required to be used in health warnings but which has been rendered in the bill as Helvetika.

As things stand, the government will be requiring cigarette manufacturers to create warning messages in a font that does not exist.

A request by one parliamentarian from an opposition party to have the bill corrected before being passed by the national council was rejected by the government. “I intended to correct this obvious mistake, but the ruling parties and the FPÖ rejected our motion to amend the law accordingly,” said Gerald Loacker, MP for the NEOS party. “I couldn’t believe it.

“It’s typical for the ruling parties, the social democrats and conservatives, to reject any proposal that comes from an opposition party. But refusing to admit spelling mistakes reaches a new level of stubbornness.”

The new law tobacco law is due to be implemented from the end of May 2017.