diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7426b986c328a70b987b570f45cca30eeefcd57e..36abb93af1b9ed60e02b559d1ddd7be075a5b9ee 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ DESC = """ this tool is used in conjunction with certbot to leverage
  the lifecycle of the certificates on the key store"""
 requirements = [
     x.strip() for x in
-    open("requirements.txt").readlines() if not x.startswith('#') and x != '\n']
+    open("requirements.txt", encoding='utf-8').readlines() if not x.startswith('#') and x != '\n']
 
 rmtree('dist', ignore_errors=True)
 rmtree('deb_dist', ignore_errors=True)
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ rmtree('deb_dist', ignore_errors=True)
 
 def read(fname):
     """ get file name """
-    return open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), fname)).read()
+    return open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), fname), encoding='utf-8').read()
 
 
 setup(