diff --git a/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_hooks.inc.php b/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_hooks.inc.php
index 49505795b80..32cf3246dcc 100644
--- a/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_hooks.inc.php
+++ b/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_hooks.inc.php
@@ -175,6 +175,22 @@ class addressbook_hooks
 			'default'=> 'iso-8859-1',
 		);
 
+		$selectCharSet = array(
+			'utf-8'			=> 'UTF-8',
+			'iso-8859-1'	=> 'ISO-8859-1',
+		);
+
+		$settings['vcard_charset'] = array(
+			'type'   => 'select',
+			'label'  => 'Charset for the vCard export',
+			'name'   => 'vcard_charset',
+			'values' => $selectCharSet,
+			'help'   => 'Which charset should be used for the vCard export.',
+			'xmlrpc' => True,
+			'admin'  => false,
+			'default'=> 'utf-8',
+		);
+
 		if ($GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['contact_repository'] != 'ldap')
 		{
 			$settings['private_addressbook'] = array(
diff --git a/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_vcal.inc.php b/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_vcal.inc.php
index 66a04c14760..9c1c89108ca 100644
--- a/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_vcal.inc.php
+++ b/addressbook/inc/class.addressbook_vcal.inc.php
@@ -980,9 +980,17 @@ class addressbook_vcal extends addressbook_bo
 		{
 			return false;
 		}
+		if (isset($GLOBALS['egw_info']['user']['preferences']['addressbook']['vcard_charset']))
+		{
+			$charset = $GLOBALS['egw_info']['user']['preferences']['addressbook']['vcard_charset'];
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			$charset = 'utf-8';
+		}
 		foreach ($ids as $id)
 		{
-			fwrite($fp,$this->getVCard($id));
+			fwrite($fp,$this->getVCard($id, $charset));
 		}
 		fclose($fp);