diff --git a/bin/report/report_sxw.py b/bin/report/report_sxw.py
index 8e0537cf933..fd8d5e35c09 100644
--- a/bin/report/report_sxw.py
+++ b/bin/report/report_sxw.py
@@ -519,8 +519,8 @@ class rml_parse(object):
         if not self.logo and rml_head.find('company.logo')>=0:
             rml_head = rml_head.replace('<image','<!--image')
             rml_head = rml_head.replace('</image>','</image-->')
-
-        head_dom = xml.dom.minidom.parseString(rml_head)
+        
+        head_dom = xml.dom.minidom.parseString(rml_head.encode('utf-8'))
         #for frame in head_dom.getElementsByTagName('frame'):
         #   frame.parentNode.removeChild(frame)
         node2 = head_dom.documentElement