diff --git a/src/config_generator/map_viewer_config.py b/src/config_generator/map_viewer_config.py
index d21c6cb..727db88 100644
--- a/src/config_generator/map_viewer_config.py
+++ b/src/config_generator/map_viewer_config.py
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ def qwc2_config(self):
             config_file = cfg_qwc2_config.get(
                 'qwc2_config_file', 'config.json'
             )
-            with open(config_file) as f:
+            with open(config_file, encoding='utf-8') as f:
                 # parse config JSON with original order of keys
                 config = json.load(f, object_pairs_hook=OrderedDict)
         except Exception as e: