diff --git a/system/application/config/config.php b/system/application/config/config.php
index 941d9c3..f0ba241 100644
--- a/system/application/config/config.php
+++ b/system/application/config/config.php
@@ -68,6 +68,16 @@
 */
 $config['language']	= "english";
 
+/*
+|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+| Default Character Set
+|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+|
+| This determines which character set is used by default in various methods
+| that require a character set to be provided.
+|
+*/
+$config['charset'] = "UTF-8";
 
 /*
 |--------------------------------------------------------------------------