diff --git a/includes/database/sqlite/database.inc b/includes/database/sqlite/database.inc
index c5e3ed919085fae98bbbf778fcd7a77ef6a60893..651efa26fcae656ebbfbdda94797863dadf57073 100644
--- a/includes/database/sqlite/database.inc
+++ b/includes/database/sqlite/database.inc
@@ -92,8 +92,6 @@ public function __construct(array $connection_options = array()) {
       }
     }
 
-    $this->exec('PRAGMA encoding="UTF-8"');
-
     // Detect support for SAVEPOINT.
     $version = $this->query('SELECT sqlite_version()')->fetchField();
     $this->savepointSupport = (version_compare($version, '3.6.8') >= 0);