diff --git a/modules/data_cleaner/controllers/verification_rule.php b/modules/data_cleaner/controllers/verification_rule.php
index 78a8f8dcca..b17b5dcbd7 100644
--- a/modules/data_cleaner/controllers/verification_rule.php
+++ b/modules/data_cleaner/controllers/verification_rule.php
@@ -386,6 +386,9 @@ private function internal_upload_rule_file($totaldone, $cacheArr) {
       throw new exception("Could not open file $filepath");
     }
     $filecontent = fread($resource,1000000);
+    // if no BOM, not unicode, so convert for safety. See Warehouse issue 22.
+    if (strpos($filecontent, "\xEF\xBB\xBF")!==0) 
+	    $filecontent = utf8_encode($filecontent);
     $settings = data_cleaner::parse_test_file($filecontent);
     $this->read_rule_content($settings, $cacheArr['files'][$totaldone]['path'], $cacheArr['files'][$totaldone]['source_url']);
     return $cacheArr['files'][$totaldone]['display'];