You need the latex file to use `\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}` rather than the default `\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}`. This works with standard (pdf)latex. For org export to generate this you have to set the variable `org-latex-inputenc-alist` accordingly. For example: (setq org-latex-inputenc-alist '(("utf8" . "utf8x"))) For the variable to be defined, you may need to `(require 'ox-latex)` first.