diff --git a/python-webassets.changes b/python-webassets.changes
index afa5120..fbeba83 100644
--- a/python-webassets.changes
+++ b/python-webassets.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Fri Dec  6 20:55:03 UTC 2019 - Erico Mendonca <erico.mendonca@suse.com>
+
+- Adding locale variables, as some tests would fail due to unicode errors.
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Fri Mar  8 15:15:52 UTC 2019 - Tomáš Chvátal <tchvatal@suse.com>
 
diff --git a/python-webassets.spec b/python-webassets.spec
index 12892de..b0193f0 100644
--- a/python-webassets.spec
+++ b/python-webassets.spec
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ sed -i -e 's:e.message:e.args[0]:g' tests/test_filters.py
 %python_expand %fdupes %{buildroot}%{$python_sitelib}
 
 %check
+# for some reason the locale is set to C during tests?
+export LANG="en_US.UTF8"
 %{pytest}
 
 %files %{python_files}