diff --git a/src/Mod/Draft/importDXF.py b/src/Mod/Draft/importDXF.py
index b9fb3f8293..160b8796c3 100644
--- a/src/Mod/Draft/importDXF.py
+++ b/src/Mod/Draft/importDXF.py
@@ -187,6 +187,9 @@ def decodeName(name):
         except UnicodeDecodeError:
                 print("dxf: error: couldn't determine character encoding")
                 decodedName = name
+    except AttributeError:
+        # this is python3 (nothing to do)
+        decodedName = name
     return decodedName
 
 def deformat(text):