diff --git a/googleapiclient/discovery_cache/__init__.py b/googleapiclient/discovery_cache/__init__.py
index 6051191e73..5dc3112e65 100644
--- a/googleapiclient/discovery_cache/__init__.py
+++ b/googleapiclient/discovery_cache/__init__.py
@@ -69,7 +69,9 @@ def get_static_doc(serviceName, version):
     doc_name = "{}.{}.json".format(serviceName, version)
 
     try:
-        with open(os.path.join(DISCOVERY_DOC_DIR, doc_name), "r") as f:
+        with open(
+            os.path.join(DISCOVERY_DOC_DIR, doc_name), "r", encoding="utf-8"
+        ) as f:
             content = f.read()
     except FileNotFoundError:
         # File does not exist. Nothing to do here.
diff --git a/tests/test_discovery_cache.py b/tests/test_discovery_cache.py
index 678350505d..7fd751b45b 100644
--- a/tests/test_discovery_cache.py
+++ b/tests/test_discovery_cache.py
@@ -18,10 +18,12 @@
 """Discovery document cache tests."""
 
 import datetime
+import os
+import tempfile
 import unittest
 from unittest import mock
 
-from googleapiclient.discovery_cache import DISCOVERY_DOC_MAX_AGE
+from googleapiclient.discovery_cache import DISCOVERY_DOC_MAX_AGE, get_static_doc
 
 try:
     from googleapiclient.discovery_cache.file_cache import Cache as FileCache
@@ -59,3 +61,19 @@ def future_now():
 
         # Make sure the content is expired
         self.assertEqual(None, cache.get(first_url))
+
+
+class GetStaticDocTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_reads_discovery_document_as_utf8(self):
+        # The packaged discovery documents are UTF-8 and must be decoded as
+        # such regardless of the host's locale encoding.
+        content = '{"description": "\u201cquoted\u201d"}'
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as doc_dir:
+            with open(
+                os.path.join(doc_dir, "fake.v1.json"), "w", encoding="utf-8"
+            ) as f:
+                f.write(content)
+            with mock.patch(
+                "googleapiclient.discovery_cache.DISCOVERY_DOC_DIR", new=doc_dir
+            ):
+                self.assertEqual(content, get_static_doc("fake", "v1"))