diff --git a/ckanext/odsh/pretty_daterange/date_range_formatter.py b/ckanext/odsh/pretty_daterange/date_range_formatter.py
index a9018737661cba2d120ce6392e91bc3d0ff5f1c2..4b6a3fcb169b56061e5d867276456952a1d2a1c8 100644
--- a/ckanext/odsh/pretty_daterange/date_range_formatter.py
+++ b/ckanext/odsh/pretty_daterange/date_range_formatter.py
@@ -72,24 +72,19 @@ class DateRangeFormatter(object):
     
     def _construct_single_date_string(self, date, format):
         return format_date(date, format=format, locale=self.locale_for_date_strings)
-
-    @staticmethod
-    def _as_utf_8(s):
-        return '' + s.decode('utf-8')
-    
     
     def _construct_half_of_year_date_string(self):
         year = self.date_start.year
         half = self._date_range.get_half_year(self.date_start)
         half_of_year_date_string = '{}. Halbjahr {}'.format(half, year)
-        return DateRangeFormatter._as_utf_8(half_of_year_date_string)
+        return half_of_year_date_string
     
     
     def _construct_quarter_of_year_date_string(self):
         year = self.date_start.year
         quarter = self._date_range.get_quarter(self.date_start)
         quarter_of_year_date_string = '{}. Quartal {}'.format(quarter, year)
-        return DateRangeFormatter._as_utf_8(quarter_of_year_date_string)
+        return quarter_of_year_date_string
 
     
     def _construct_date_range_string(self, format_date_start, format_date_end):