diff -up system-config-printer-1.4.1/newprinter.py.utf8-971417 system-config-printer-1.4.1/newprinter.py
--- system-config-printer-1.4.1/newprinter.py.utf8-971417	2013-06-06 17:11:08.781804207 +0100
+++ system-config-printer-1.4.1/newprinter.py	2013-06-06 17:11:46.179991962 +0100
@@ -1632,7 +1632,7 @@ class NewPrinterGUI(GtkGUI):
 
     def on_entNPName_changed(self, widget):
         # restrict
-        text = unicode (widget.get_text(), locale.getpreferredencoding ())
+        text = unicode (widget.get_text(), 'utf-8')
         new_text = text
         new_text = new_text.replace("/", "")
         new_text = new_text.replace("#", "")
@@ -2513,10 +2513,10 @@ class NewPrinterGUI(GtkGUI):
     def entry_changed(self, entry, allowed_chars):
         "Remove all chars from entry's text that are not in allowed_chars."
         try:
-            allowed_chars = unicode (allowed_chars, locale.getpreferredencoding())
+            allowed_chars = unicode (allowed_chars, 'utf-8')
         except UnicodeDecodeError:
             allowed_chars = unicode (allowed_chars)
-        origtext = unicode (entry.get_text(), locale.getpreferredencoding ())
+        origtext = unicode (entry.get_text(), 'utf-8')
         new_text = origtext
         for char in origtext:
             if char not in allowed_chars:
@@ -3883,10 +3883,9 @@ class NewPrinterGUI(GtkGUI):
             self.dec_spinner_task ()
 
         if self.dialog_mode in ("class", "printer", "printer_with_uri"):
-            enc = locale.getpreferredencoding ()
-            name = unicode (self.entNPName.get_text(), enc)
-            location = unicode (self.entNPLocation.get_text(), enc)
-            info = unicode (self.entNPDescription.get_text(), enc)
+            name = unicode (self.entNPName.get_text(), 'utf-8')
+            location = unicode (self.entNPLocation.get_text(), 'utf-8')
+            info = unicode (self.entNPDescription.get_text(), 'utf-8')
         else:
             name = self._name
 
diff -up system-config-printer-1.4.1/printerproperties.py.utf8-971417 system-config-printer-1.4.1/printerproperties.py
--- system-config-printer-1.4.1/printerproperties.py.utf8-971417	2013-06-06 17:11:08.776804182 +0100
+++ system-config-printer-1.4.1/printerproperties.py	2013-06-06 17:11:46.179991962 +0100
@@ -688,7 +688,7 @@ class PrinterPropertiesDialog(GtkGUI):
         old_value = old_values[widget]
 
         if type (old_value) == unicode:
-            old_value = old_value.encode (locale.getpreferredencoding ())
+            old_value = old_value.encode ('utf-8')
 
         if old_value == value:
             self.changed.discard(widget)
@@ -1041,10 +1041,9 @@ class PrinterPropertiesDialog(GtkGUI):
                 for member in old_members:
                     self.cups.deletePrinterFromClass(member, name)
 
-            enc = locale.getpreferredencoding ()
-            location = self.entPLocation.get_text().decode (enc)
-            info = self.entPDescription.get_text().decode (enc)
-            device_uri = self.entPDevice.get_text().decode (enc)
+            location = self.entPLocation.get_text().decode ('utf-8')
+            info = self.entPDescription.get_text().decode ('utf-8')
+            device_uri = self.entPDevice.get_text().decode ('utf-8')
 
             enabled = self.chkPEnabled.get_active()
             accepting = self.chkPAccepting.get_active()