diff --git a/drools-decisiontables/src/test/java/org/drools/decisiontable/UnicodeInCSVTest.java b/drools-decisiontables/src/test/java/org/drools/decisiontable/UnicodeInCSVTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9f8da876726
--- /dev/null
+++ b/drools-decisiontables/src/test/java/org/drools/decisiontable/UnicodeInCSVTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+package org.drools.decisiontable;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.drools.drl.extensions.DecisionTableFactory;
+import org.drools.kiesession.rulebase.InternalKnowledgeBase;
+import org.drools.kiesession.rulebase.KnowledgeBaseFactory;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.kie.api.command.Command;
+import org.kie.api.io.ResourceType;
+import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;
+import org.kie.internal.builder.DecisionTableConfiguration;
+import org.kie.internal.builder.DecisionTableInputType;
+import org.kie.internal.builder.KnowledgeBuilder;
+import org.kie.internal.builder.KnowledgeBuilderFactory;
+import org.kie.internal.command.CommandFactory;
+import org.kie.internal.io.ResourceFactory;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.fail;
+
+public class UnicodeInCSVTest {
+    
+    private KieSession ksession;
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() {
+        if (ksession != null) {
+            ksession.dispose();
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testUnicodeCSVDecisionTable() {
+
+        DecisionTableConfiguration dtconf = KnowledgeBuilderFactory.newDecisionTableConfiguration();
+        dtconf.setInputType(DecisionTableInputType.CSV);
+        KnowledgeBuilder kbuilder = KnowledgeBuilderFactory.newKnowledgeBuilder();
+        kbuilder.add(ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource("unicode.drl.csv", getClass()), ResourceType.DTABLE, dtconf);
+        if (kbuilder.hasErrors()) {
+            System.out.println(kbuilder.getErrors().toString());
+            System.out.println(DecisionTableFactory.loadFromInputStream(getClass().getResourceAsStream("unicode.drl.xls"), dtconf));
+            fail("Cannot build CSV decision table containing utf-8 characters\n" + kbuilder.getErrors().toString() );
+        }
+        InternalKnowledgeBase kbase = KnowledgeBaseFactory.newKnowledgeBase();
+        kbase.addPackages(kbuilder.getKnowledgePackages());
+        
+        ksession = kbase.newKieSession();
+        
+        List<Command<?>> commands = new ArrayList<>();
+        List<Člověk> dospělí = new ArrayList<>();
+        commands.add(CommandFactory.newSetGlobal("dospělí", dospělí));
+        Člověk Řehoř = new Člověk();
+        Řehoř.setVěk(30);
+        Řehoř.setJméno("Řehoř");
+        commands.add(CommandFactory.newInsert(Řehoř));
+        commands.add(CommandFactory.newFireAllRules());
+
+        ksession.execute(CommandFactory.newBatchExecution(commands));
+
+        // people with age greater than 18 should be added to list of adults
+        assertThat(kbase.getRule("org.drools.decisiontable", "přidej k dospělým")).isNotNull();
+        assertThat(dospělí).hasSize(5);
+        assertThat(dospělí.iterator().next().getJméno()).isEqualTo("Řehoř");
+
+        assertThat(kbase.getRule("org.drools.decisiontable", "привет мир")).isNotNull();
+        assertThat(kbase.getRule("org.drools.decisiontable", "你好世界")).isNotNull();
+        assertThat(kbase.getRule("org.drools.decisiontable", "hallå världen")).isNotNull();
+        assertThat(kbase.getRule("org.drools.decisiontable", "مرحبا العالم")).isNotNull();
+    }
+    
+    public static class Člověk {
+
+        private int věk;
+        private String jméno;
+
+        public void setVěk(int věk) {
+            this.věk = věk;
+        }
+
+        public int getVěk() {
+            return věk;
+        }
+
+        public void setJméno(String jméno) {
+            this.jméno = jméno;
+        }
+
+        public String getJméno() {
+            return jméno;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/drools-decisiontables/src/test/java/org/drools/decisiontable/UnicodeInXLSTest.java b/drools-decisiontables/src/test/java/org/drools/decisiontable/UnicodeInXLSTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..43dedef0e93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/drools-decisiontables/src/test/java/org/drools/decisiontable/UnicodeInXLSTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+package org.drools.decisiontable;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.drools.drl.extensions.DecisionTableFactory;
+import org.drools.kiesession.rulebase.InternalKnowledgeBase;
+import org.drools.kiesession.rulebase.KnowledgeBaseFactory;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.kie.api.command.Command;
+import org.kie.api.io.ResourceType;
+import org.kie.api.runtime.KieSession;
+import org.kie.internal.builder.DecisionTableConfiguration;
+import org.kie.internal.builder.DecisionTableInputType;
+import org.kie.internal.builder.KnowledgeBuilder;
+import org.kie.internal.builder.KnowledgeBuilderFactory;
+import org.kie.internal.command.CommandFactory;
+import org.kie.internal.io.ResourceFactory;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.fail;
+
+public class UnicodeInXLSTest {
+    
+    private KieSession ksession;
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() {
+        if (ksession != null) {
+            ksession.dispose();
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testUnicodeXLSDecisionTable() {
+
+        DecisionTableConfiguration dtconf = KnowledgeBuilderFactory.newDecisionTableConfiguration();
+        dtconf.setInputType(DecisionTableInputType.XLS);
+        KnowledgeBuilder kbuilder = KnowledgeBuilderFactory.newKnowledgeBuilder();
+        kbuilder.add(ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource("unicode.drl.xls", getClass()), ResourceType.DTABLE, dtconf);
+        if (kbuilder.hasErrors()) {
+            System.out.println(kbuilder.getErrors().toString());
+            System.out.println(DecisionTableFactory.loadFromInputStream(getClass().getResourceAsStream("unicode.drl.xls"), dtconf));
+            fail("Cannot build XLS decision table containing utf-8 characters\n" + kbuilder.getErrors().toString() );
+        }
+        InternalKnowledgeBase kbase = KnowledgeBaseFactory.newKnowledgeBase();
+        kbase.addPackages(kbuilder.getKnowledgePackages());
+        
+        ksession = kbase.newKieSession();
+        
+        List<Command<?>> commands = new ArrayList<>();
+        List<Člověk> dospělí = new ArrayList<>();
+        commands.add(CommandFactory.newSetGlobal("dospělí", dospělí));
+        Člověk Řehoř = new Člověk();
+        Řehoř.setVěk(30);
+        Řehoř.setJméno("Řehoř");
+        commands.add(CommandFactory.newInsert(Řehoř));
+        commands.add(CommandFactory.newFireAllRules());
+
+        ksession.execute(CommandFactory.newBatchExecution(commands));
+
+        // people with age greater than 18 should be added to list of adults
+        assertThat(kbase.getRule("org.drools.decisiontable", "přidej k dospělým")).isNotNull();
+        assertThat(dospělí).hasSize(5);
+        assertThat(dospělí.iterator().next().getJméno()).isEqualTo("Řehoř");
+
+        assertThat(kbase.getRule("org.drools.decisiontable", "привет мир")).isNotNull();
+        assertThat(kbase.getRule("org.drools.decisiontable", "你好世界"));
+        assertThat(kbase.getRule("org.drools.decisiontable", "hallå världen")).isNotNull();
+        assertThat(kbase.getRule("org.drools.decisiontable", "مرحبا العالم")).isNotNull();
+    }
+    
+    public static class Člověk {
+
+        private int věk;
+        private String jméno;
+
+        public void setVěk(int věk) {
+            this.věk = věk;
+        }
+
+        public int getVěk() {
+            return věk;
+        }
+
+        public void setJméno(String jméno) {
+            this.jméno = jméno;
+        }
+
+        public String getJméno() {
+            return jméno;
+        }
+    }
+}