diff --git a/garak/__main__.py b/garak/__main__.py
index 923bbebdc..c3413be80 100644
--- a/garak/__main__.py
+++ b/garak/__main__.py
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@
 
 
 def main():
+    sys.stdout.reconfigure(encoding="utf-8")
     cli.main(sys.argv[1:])
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    sys.stdout.reconfigure(encoding="utf-8")
     main()
diff --git a/tests/test_main_entrypoint.py b/tests/test_main_entrypoint.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1cca2a273
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_main_entrypoint.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Portions Copyright (c) 2024 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+"""Tests for the garak console entry point, garak.__main__"""
+
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+
+def _run_entrypoint_with_legacy_stdout(body: str) -> subprocess.CompletedProcess:
+    """Invoke main() the way the console script does, with a non-UTF-8 stdout.
+
+    The `garak` console script is declared as `garak.__main__:main`, so it calls
+    main() directly and never runs the `if __name__ == "__main__"` block.
+    """
+    env = dict(os.environ)
+    env["PYTHONIOENCODING"] = "cp1252"
+    env.pop("PYTHONUTF8", None)
+    return subprocess.run(
+        [sys.executable, "-c", body], capture_output=True, env=env, timeout=120
+    )
+
+
+def test_entrypoint_emits_non_ascii_on_legacy_stdout():
+    """main() must make stdout UTF-8 so plugin-listing emoji survive a redirect"""
+    result = _run_entrypoint_with_legacy_stdout(
+        "import garak.cli\n"
+        "garak.cli.main = lambda argv: print('\\U0001F31F')\n"
+        "from garak.__main__ import main\n"
+        "main()\n"
+    )
+    assert result.returncode == 0, (
+        "console entry point must not fail on a non-UTF-8 stdout: "
+        f"{result.stderr.decode(errors='replace')}"
+    )
+    assert (
+        "\U0001F31F".encode("utf-8") in result.stdout
+    ), "non-ASCII output must reach stdout intact rather than being truncated"