diff --git a/app/config/core.php b/app/config/core.php
index 7e3e40a07..516b59ad6 100644
--- a/app/config/core.php
+++ b/app/config/core.php
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@
  * In development mode, you need to click the flash message to continue.
  */
 	Configure::write('debug', 2);
+/**
+ * Application wide charset encoding
+ */
+	Configure::write('App.encoding', 'UTF-8');
 /**
  * To configure CakePHP *not* to use mod_rewrite and to
  * use CakePHP pretty URLs, remove these .htaccess
diff --git a/cake/libs/controller/components/email.php b/cake/libs/controller/components/email.php
index 2a812ab2b..c100a6110 100644
--- a/cake/libs/controller/components/email.php
+++ b/cake/libs/controller/components/email.php
@@ -273,7 +273,10 @@ class EmailComponent extends Object{
  * @access public
  */
 	function startup(&$controller) {
-		$this->Controller = & $controller;
+		$this->Controller =& $controller;
+		if (Configure::read('App.encoding') !== null) {
+			$this->charset = Configure::read('App.encoding');
+		}
 	}
 /**
  * Send an email using the specified content, template and layout
diff --git a/cake/libs/controller/components/request_handler.php b/cake/libs/controller/components/request_handler.php
index 6e2b70350..afffdd9e6 100644
--- a/cake/libs/controller/components/request_handler.php
+++ b/cake/libs/controller/components/request_handler.php
@@ -520,9 +520,15 @@ class RequestHandlerComponent extends Object {
  * @see RequestHandlerComponent::respondAs()
  */
 	function renderAs(&$controller, $type) {
+		$options = array('charset' => 'UTF-8');
+
+		if (Configure::read('App.encoding') !== null) {
+			$options = array('charset' => Configure::read('App.encoding'));
+		}
+
 		if ($type == 'ajax') {
 			$controller->layout = $this->ajaxLayout;
-			return $this->respondAs('html', array('charset' => 'UTF-8'));
+			return $this->respondAs('html', $options);
 		}
 
 		$controller->ext = '.ctp';
@@ -535,7 +541,7 @@ class RequestHandlerComponent extends Object {
 		$controller->layoutPath = $type;
 
 		if (in_array($type, array_keys($this->__requestContent))) {
-			$this->respondAs($type);
+			$this->respondAs($type, $options);
 		}
 
 		$helper = ucfirst($type);
diff --git a/cake/libs/view/helpers/xml.php b/cake/libs/view/helpers/xml.php
index 8ae5d1e4a..0afafe824 100644
--- a/cake/libs/view/helpers/xml.php
+++ b/cake/libs/view/helpers/xml.php
@@ -88,6 +88,9 @@ class XmlHelper extends AppHelper {
  * @return string XML header
  */
 	function header($attrib = array()) {
+		if (Configure::read('App.encoding') !== null) {
+			$this->encoding = Configure::read('App.encoding');
+		}
 		$attrib = array_merge(array('version' => '1.0', 'encoding' => $this->encoding), $attrib);
 		return $this->output('<' . '?xml' . $this->__composeAttributes($attrib) . ' ?' . '>');
 	}
diff --git a/cake/libs/xml.php b/cake/libs/xml.php
index 335119918..986df8668 100644
--- a/cake/libs/xml.php
+++ b/cake/libs/xml.php
@@ -506,6 +506,10 @@ class XML extends XMLNode {
 			}
 		}
 
+		if (Configure::read('App.encoding') !== null) {
+			$this->encoding = Configure::read('App.encoding');
+		}
+
 		foreach ($options as $key => $val) {
 			switch ($key) {
 				case 'version':