diff --git a/src/Mod/Arch/importIFC.py b/src/Mod/Arch/importIFC.py
index 5f2845647..f93d00a7d 100644
--- a/src/Mod/Arch/importIFC.py
+++ b/src/Mod/Arch/importIFC.py
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ def decode(filename,utf=False):
     if isinstance(filename,unicode): 
         # workaround since ifcopenshell currently can't handle unicode filenames
         if utf:
-            encoding = True
+            encoding = "utf8"
         else:
             import sys
             encoding = sys.getfilesystemencoding()
@@ -681,22 +681,22 @@ def export(exportList,filename):
         s = owner.split("<")
         owner = s[0]
         email = s[1].strip(">")
-    global ifctemplate
-    ifctemplate = ifctemplate.replace("$version",version[0]+"."+version[1]+" build "+version[2])
-    ifctemplate = ifctemplate.replace("$owner",owner)
-    ifctemplate = ifctemplate.replace("$company",FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.Company)
-    ifctemplate = ifctemplate.replace("$email",email)
-    ifctemplate = ifctemplate.replace("$now",str(int(time.time())))
-    ifctemplate = ifctemplate.replace("$projectid",FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.Uid[:22].replace("-","_"))
-    ifctemplate = ifctemplate.replace("$project",FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.Name)
-    ifctemplate = ifctemplate.replace("$filename",filename)
-    ifctemplate = ifctemplate.replace("$timestamp",str(time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S", time.gmtime())))
-    template = tempfile.mkstemp(suffix=".ifc")[1]
-    of = pyopen(template,"wb")
-    of.write(ifctemplate.encode("utf8"))
+    global template
+    template = ifctemplate.replace("$version",version[0]+"."+version[1]+" build "+version[2])
+    template = template.replace("$owner",owner)
+    template = template.replace("$company",FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.Company)
+    template = template.replace("$email",email)
+    template = template.replace("$now",str(int(time.time())))
+    template = template.replace("$projectid",FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.Uid[:22].replace("-","_"))
+    template = template.replace("$project",FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.Name)
+    template = template.replace("$filename",filename)
+    template = template.replace("$timestamp",str(time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S", time.gmtime())))
+    templatefile = tempfile.mkstemp(suffix=".ifc")[1]
+    of = pyopen(templatefile,"wb")
+    of.write(template.encode("utf8"))
     of.close()
     global ifcfile, surfstyles
-    ifcfile = ifcopenshell.open(template)
+    ifcfile = ifcopenshell.open(templatefile)
     history = ifcfile.by_type("IfcOwnerHistory")[0]
     context = ifcfile.by_type("IfcGeometricRepresentationContext")[0]
     project = ifcfile.by_type("IfcProject")[0]