diff --git a/run_test.py b/run_test.py
index db69cd9..5f54a60 100644
--- a/run_test.py
+++ b/run_test.py
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ coverage.erase()
 coverage.start()
 import unittest
 import sys
+reload(sys)
+sys.setdefaultencoding('utf8')
+del sys.setdefaultencoding
 import tests
 from tests.test_mailconnection import *
 from tests.test_mailconnection_factory import *
@@ -34,6 +37,7 @@ from test import test_support
 import jabber
 import logging
 
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     logger = logging.getLogger()
     logger.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler())
diff --git a/tests/email_generator.py b/tests/email_generator.py
index b764fc8..3312bb9 100644
--- a/tests/email_generator.py
+++ b/tests/email_generator.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-##
-# -*- coding: iso-8859-1 -*-
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 ## email_generator.py
 ## Login : David Rousselie <david.rousselie@happycoders.org>
 ## Started on  Tue May 17 15:33:35 2005
@@ -28,8 +27,7 @@ from email.MIMEMultipart import MIMEMultipart
 def _create_multipart(encoded):
     msg = MIMEMultipart()
     if encoded:
-        part1 = MIMEText("Encoded multipart1 with 'iso-8859-15' charset (éàê)", \
-                         _charset = "iso-8859-15")
+        part1 = MIMEText("utf-8 multipart1 with no charset (éàê)", _charset = "")
         msg.attach(part1)
         part2 = MIMEText("Encoded multipart2 with 'iso-8859-15' charset (éàê)", \
                          _charset = "iso-8859-15")
diff --git a/tests/test_mailconnection.py b/tests/test_mailconnection.py
index 0ad0d43..49b0b8a 100644
--- a/tests/test_mailconnection.py
+++ b/tests/test_mailconnection.py
@@ -103,8 +103,8 @@ class MailConnection_TestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         make_test((True, True, True), \
                   lambda self, email: self.connection.format_message(email), \
                   u"From : encoded from (éàê)\nSubject : encoded subject (éà" + \
-                  u"ê)\n\nEncoded multipart1 with 'iso-8859-15' charset (éàê" + \
-                  u")\nEncoded multipart2 with 'iso-8859-15' charset (éàê)\n")
+                  u"ê)\n\nutf-8 multipart1 with no charset (éàê)" + \
+                  u"\nEncoded multipart2 with 'iso-8859-15' charset (éàê)\n")
 
 
 class POP3Connection_TestCase(unittest.TestCase):