diff --git a/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp b/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp
index 004085b0e7..dd592b3349 100644
--- a/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp
+++ b/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp
@@ -300,13 +300,17 @@ char IfcCharacterDecoder::substitution_character = '_';
 
 
 IfcCharacterEncoder::IfcCharacterEncoder(const std::string& input) {
+#ifdef HAVE_ICU
 	if ( !converter) converter = ucnv_open("utf-8", &status);
+#endif
 	str = input;
 }
 
 IfcCharacterEncoder::~IfcCharacterEncoder() {
+#ifdef HAVE_ICU
 	if ( !converter) ucnv_close(converter);
 	converter = 0;
+#endif
 }
 
 IfcCharacterEncoder::operator std::string() {
diff --git a/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.h b/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.h
index ce640ebfc4..113105c2ce 100644
--- a/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.h
+++ b/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.h
@@ -77,10 +77,10 @@ namespace IfcWrite {
 
 	class IfcCharacterEncoder {
 	private:
+		std::string str;
 #ifdef HAVE_ICU
 		static UErrorCode status;
 		static UConverter* converter;
-		std::string str;
 #endif
 	public:
 		IfcCharacterEncoder(const std::string& input);