diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/FormData.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/FormData.java
index 9288bdeb6b..3ef42940ab 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/FormData.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/FormData.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ package org.alfresco.web.scripts;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.Serializable;
+import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ import java.util.Map;
 
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
 
+import org.alfresco.error.AlfrescoRuntimeException;
 import org.alfresco.repo.jscript.Scopeable;
 import org.alfresco.repo.jscript.ScriptNode;
 import org.alfresco.repo.jscript.ScriptNode.ScriptContent;
@@ -60,7 +62,9 @@ public class FormData implements Serializable, Scopeable
     private Map<String, FormField> fields = null;
     private Map<String, String> parameters = null;
     private Map<String, ScriptContent> files = null;
-    
+    private List<FileItem> files = null;
+    private String encoding = null;
+   
     /**
      * Construct
      * 
@@ -146,6 +150,8 @@ public class FormData implements Serializable, Scopeable
         {
             FileItemFactory factory = new DiskFileItemFactory();
             upload = new ServletFileUpload(factory);
+            encoding = req.getCharacterEncoding();
+            upload.setHeaderEncoding(encoding);
             try
             {
                 List<FileItem> fileItems = upload.parseRequest(req);
@@ -262,8 +268,15 @@ public class FormData implements Serializable, Scopeable
          */
         public String getValue()
         {
-            return file.getString();
-        }
+            try
+            {
+                return (file.isFormField() && encoding != null) ? file.getString(encoding) : file.getString();
+            }
+            catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e)
+            {
+                throw new AlfrescoRuntimeException("Unable to decode form field", e);
+            }
+	    }
         
         public String jsGet_value()
         {
diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/WebScriptServlet.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/WebScriptServlet.java
index 1ac920e912..42d822967a 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/WebScriptServlet.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/WebScriptServlet.java
@@ -104,7 +104,10 @@ public class WebScriptServlet extends HttpServlet
     {
         if (logger.isDebugEnabled())
             logger.debug("Processing request ("  + req.getMethod() + ") " + req.getRequestURL() + (req.getQueryString() != null ? "?" + req.getQueryString() : ""));
-        
+        if (req.getCharacterEncoding() == null)
+        {
+            req.setCharacterEncoding("UTF-8");
+        }
         WebScriptRuntime runtime = new WebScriptServletRuntime(registry, serviceRegistry, authenticator, req, res, serverConfig);
         runtime.executeScript();
     }