diff --git a/de.hftstuttgart.buildingphysics.application/src/de/hftstuttgart/buildingphysics/application/handlers/NewHandler.java b/de.hftstuttgart.buildingphysics.application/src/de/hftstuttgart/buildingphysics/application/handlers/NewHandler.java
index 30ccd9c3c23593eb71c38145875e965e975fd2de..4919db5d3e199fa219916b9eb24c954ac5ab68e4 100644
--- a/de.hftstuttgart.buildingphysics.application/src/de/hftstuttgart/buildingphysics/application/handlers/NewHandler.java
+++ b/de.hftstuttgart.buildingphysics.application/src/de/hftstuttgart/buildingphysics/application/handlers/NewHandler.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.modeling.EPartService;
 import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.EObject;
 import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.resource.Resource;
 import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.util.EcoreUtil;
+import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.xmi.XMLResource;
 import org.eclipse.emf.edit.domain.AdapterFactoryEditingDomain;
 import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Shell;
 
@@ -27,19 +28,25 @@ public class NewHandler {
 		if (pathToNewCatalog != null) {
 			// create new catalog with resource at above path
 			final AdapterFactoryEditingDomain domain = HandlerUtils.createEditingDomain();
-			final Resource energyCatalogResource = domain.createResource("file://" + pathToNewCatalog);
-			final EObject energyCatalog = EcoreUtil.create(BuildingPhysicsPackage.eINSTANCE.getBuildingPhysicsCatalog());
-			energyCatalogResource.getContents().add(energyCatalog);
+			final Resource catalogResource = domain.createResource("file://" + pathToNewCatalog);
+
+			// assume default XMI factory was used to create an XML resource
+			if (catalogResource instanceof XMLResource) {
+				((XMLResource)catalogResource).setEncoding("UTF-8");
+			}
+
+			final EObject catalog = EcoreUtil.create(BuildingPhysicsPackage.eINSTANCE.getBuildingPhysicsCatalog());
+			catalogResource.getContents().add(catalog);
 
 			// store new (empty) resource at selected path
 			try {
-				energyCatalogResource.save(null);
+				catalogResource.save(null);
 			} catch (IOException e) {
 				// TODO Auto-generated catch block
 				e.printStackTrace();
 			}
 
-			HandlerUtils.createNewPartWithCatalog(application.getContext(), partService, energyCatalogResource);
+			HandlerUtils.createNewPartWithCatalog(application.getContext(), partService, catalogResource);
 		}
 	}
 }
\ No newline at end of file