1996, and several conferences leading up to the reform were hosted in Vienna at the invitation of the Austrian federal government. Austria adopted it as a signatory, along with Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, of an international memorandum of understanding Wiener Absichtserklärung signed in Vienna in 1996.

The eszett (ß) is used in Austria and Germany but not in Switzerland. In Austria, it is usually only called "scharfes S" ("sharp s").

Distinctions in vocabulary persist, for

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