diff --git a/argo-nagios-ams-publisher.spec b/argo-nagios-ams-publisher.spec
index ec286b8..cfce8c5 100644
--- a/argo-nagios-ams-publisher.spec
+++ b/argo-nagios-ams-publisher.spec
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@
 %endif
 
 Name:           argo-nagios-ams-publisher
-Version:        0.3.5
-Release:        2%{mydist}
+Version:        0.3.6
+Release:        1%{mydist}
 Summary:        Bridge from Nagios to the ARGO Messaging system
 
 Group:          Network/Monitoring
@@ -109,6 +109,8 @@ if ! /usr/bin/getent group nagiocmd &>/dev/null; then
 fi
 
 %changelog
+* Tue Mar 31 2020 Daniel Vrcic <dvrcic@srce.hr> - 0.3.6-1%{?dist}
+- ARGO-2224 Local delivery cache tool should pass non-ascii characters
 * Tue Apr 23 2019 Daniel Vrcic <dvrcic@srce.hr> - 0.3.5-2%{?dist}
 - regression fix to include site name in `site` field of notification
 * Wed Apr 17 2019 Daniel Vrcic <dvrcic@srce.hr> - 0.3.5-1%{?dist}
diff --git a/init/ams-publisher.service b/init/ams-publisher.service
index b21235b..a628f1d 100644
--- a/init/ams-publisher.service
+++ b/init/ams-publisher.service
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 [Unit]
-Description=AMS publisher 
+Description=AMS publisher
 After=network.target
 
 [Service]
 Type=simple
-ExecStart=/usr/bin/ams-publisherd -d start 
-ExecStop=/usr/bin/ams-publisherd -d stop 
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/ams-publisherd -d start
+ExecStop=/usr/bin/ams-publisherd -d stop
 
 [Install]
-WantedBy=multi−user.target
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/pymod/alarmtoqueue.py b/pymod/alarmtoqueue.py
index 888cc78..83409c8 100644
--- a/pymod/alarmtoqueue.py
+++ b/pymod/alarmtoqueue.py
@@ -28,14 +28,14 @@ def build_msg(args, *headers):
 
     timestamp, service, hostname, testname, status, nagioshost = headers
 
-    msg.header.update({'execution_time': timestamp.encode('utf-8')})
-    msg.header.update({'service_flavour': service.encode('utf-8')})
-    msg.header.update({'node_name': hostname.encode('utf-8')})
-    msg.header.update({'test_name': testname.encode('utf-8')})
-    msg.header.update({'status': status.encode('utf-8')})
+    msg.header.update({'execution_time': timestamp})
+    msg.header.update({'service_flavour': service})
+    msg.header.update({'node_name': hostname})
+    msg.header.update({'test_name': testname})
+    msg.header.update({'status': status})
 
     for bs in ['details', 'vo', 'site', 'roc', 'urlhistory', 'urlhelp']:
-        code = "msg.body += '%s: ' + args.%s.encode(\'utf-8\') + '\\n' if args.%s else ''" % (bs, bs, bs)
+        code = "msg.body += '%s: ' + args.%s + '\\n' if args.%s else ''" % (bs, bs, bs)
         exec code
 
     msg.text = True
diff --git a/pymod/metrictoqueue.py b/pymod/metrictoqueue.py
index 0f4c909..9e512e1 100644
--- a/pymod/metrictoqueue.py
+++ b/pymod/metrictoqueue.py
@@ -30,15 +30,15 @@ def build_msg(args, *headers):
 
     timestamp, service, hostname, metric, status, nagioshost = headers
 
-    msg.header.update({'timestamp': timestamp.encode('utf-8')})
-    msg.header.update({'service': service.encode('utf-8')})
-    msg.header.update({'hostname': hostname.encode('utf-8')})
-    msg.header.update({'metric': metric.encode('utf-8')})
-    msg.header.update({'status': status.encode('utf-8')})
-    msg.header.update({'monitoring_host': nagioshost.encode('utf-8')})
+    msg.header.update({'timestamp': timestamp})
+    msg.header.update({'service': service})
+    msg.header.update({'hostname': hostname})
+    msg.header.update({'metric': metric})
+    msg.header.update({'status': status})
+    msg.header.update({'monitoring_host': nagioshost})
 
     for bs in ['summary', 'message', 'vofqan', 'voname', 'roc', 'actual_data', 'site']:
-        code = "msg.body += '%s: ' + args.%s.encode(\'utf-8\') + '\\n' if args.%s else ''" % (bs, bs, bs)
+        code = "msg.body += '%s: ' + args.%s + '\\n' if args.%s else ''" % (bs, bs, bs)
         exec code
 
     msg.text = True
diff --git a/pymod/publish.py b/pymod/publish.py
index 16ab165..ea55b9a 100644
--- a/pymod/publish.py
+++ b/pymod/publish.py
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ def _extract_body(self, body, fields, maps=None):
                 if maps and key in maps:
                     key = maps[key]
 
-                msg[key] = value.decode('utf-8', 'replace')
+                msg[key] = value
 
         return msg