diff --git a/netbox/utilities/forms.py b/netbox/utilities/forms.py
index dbbee9f28..28e4cdbb2 100644
--- a/netbox/utilities/forms.py
+++ b/netbox/utilities/forms.py
@@ -167,10 +167,15 @@ class CSVDataField(forms.CharField):
         if not self.help_text:
             self.help_text = 'Enter one line per record in CSV format.'
 
+    def utf_8_encoder(self, unicode_csv_data):
+        # convert csv,reader to utf-8e
+        for line in unicode_csv_data:
+            yield line.encode('utf-8')
+
     def to_python(self, value):
         # Return a list of dictionaries, each representing an individual record
         records = []
-        reader = csv.reader(value.splitlines())
+        reader = csv.reader(self.utf_8_encoder(value.splitlines()))
         for i, row in enumerate(reader, start=1):
             if row:
                 if len(row) < len(self.columns):