diff --git a/src/gam.py b/src/gam.py
index 0431627b..22aec666 100755
--- a/src/gam.py
+++ b/src/gam.py
@@ -13933,6 +13933,9 @@ def ProcessGAMCommand(args):
   GM_Globals[GM_SYSEXITRC] = 0
   try:
     SetGlobalVariables()
+    if sys.version_info[1] >= 7:
+      sys.stdout.reconfigure(encoding=GC_Values[GC_CHARSET], errors='backslashreplace')
+      sys.stdin.reconfigure(encoding=GC_Values[GC_CHARSET], errors='backslashreplace')
     command = sys.argv[1].lower()
     if command == 'batch':
       i = 2
@@ -14741,7 +14744,4 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     mp_set_start_method('fork')
   if sys.version_info[0] < 3 or sys.version_info[1] < 5:
     controlflow.system_error_exit(5, 'GAM requires Python 3.5 or newer. You are running %s.%s.%s. Please upgrade your Python version or use one of the binary GAM downloads.' % sys.version_info[:3])
-  elif sys.version_info[1] >= 7:
-    sys.stdout.reconfigure(encoding=UTF8, errors='backslashreplace')
-    sys.stdin.reconfigure(encoding=UTF8, errors='backslashreplace')
   sys.exit(ProcessGAMCommand(sys.argv))