diff --git a/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp b/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp
index dd592b3349..7287532ad3 100644
--- a/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp
+++ b/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp
@@ -314,6 +314,8 @@ IfcCharacterEncoder::~IfcCharacterEncoder() {
 }
 
 IfcCharacterEncoder::operator std::string() {
+	std::ostringstream oss;
+	oss.put('\'');
 #ifdef HAVE_ICU
 	// Either 2 or 4 to uses \X2 or \X4 respectively.
 	// Currently hardcoded to 4, but \X2 might be  
@@ -321,7 +323,7 @@ IfcCharacterEncoder::operator std::string() {
 	const int num_bytes = 4; 
 	const std::string num_bytes_str = std::string(1,num_bytes + 0x30);
 
-	std::ostringstream oss;
+
 	UChar32 ch;
 
 	const char* source = str.c_str();
@@ -339,7 +341,7 @@ IfcCharacterEncoder::operator std::string() {
 		}
 		if ( within_spf_range ) {
 			oss.put(ch);
-			if ( ch == '\\' ) oss.put(ch);
+			if ( ch == '\\' || ch == '\'' ) oss.put(ch);
 		} else {
 			oss << std::hex << std::setw(num_bytes*2) << std::uppercase << std::setfill('0') << (int) ch;
 		}
@@ -347,11 +349,15 @@ IfcCharacterEncoder::operator std::string() {
 	}
 
 	if ( in_extended ) oss << "\\X0\\";
-
-	return oss.str();
 #else
-	return str;
+	for (std::string::const_iterator i = str.begin(); i != str.end(); ++i) {
+		char ch = *i;
+		if ( ch == '\\' || ch == '\'' ) oss.put(ch);
+		oss.put(ch);
+	}
 #endif
+	oss.put('\'');
+	return oss.str();
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/ifcparse/IfcParse.cpp b/src/ifcparse/IfcParse.cpp
index 39b9e2addc..792c28eebf 100644
--- a/src/ifcparse/IfcParse.cpp
+++ b/src/ifcparse/IfcParse.cpp
@@ -468,7 +468,13 @@ TokenArgument::operator IfcUtil::IfcSchemaEntity() const { return token.first->f
 TokenArgument::operator IfcEntities() const { throw IfcException("Argument is not a list of entities"); }
 unsigned int TokenArgument::Size() const { return 1; }
 ArgumentPtr TokenArgument::operator [] (unsigned int i) const { throw IfcException("Argument is not a list of arguments"); }
-std::string TokenArgument::toString(bool upper) const { if ( upper && TokenFunc::isString(token) ) return IfcWrite::IfcCharacterEncoder(TokenFunc::toString(token)); else return TokenFunc::toString(token); }
+std::string TokenArgument::toString(bool upper) const { 
+	if ( upper && TokenFunc::isString(token) ) {
+		return IfcWrite::IfcCharacterEncoder(TokenFunc::asString(token)); 
+	} else {
+		return TokenFunc::toString(token); 
+	}
+}
 bool TokenArgument::isNull() const { return TokenFunc::isOperator(token,'$'); }
 //
 // Functions for casting the EntityArgument to other types
@@ -488,11 +494,18 @@ ArgumentPtr EntityArgument::operator [] (unsigned int i) const { throw IfcExcept
 std::string EntityArgument::toString(bool upper) const { 
 	ArgumentPtr arg = entity->wrappedValue();
 	IfcParse::TokenArgument* token_arg = dynamic_cast<IfcParse::TokenArgument*>(arg);
-	std::string token_string = ( token_arg ) ? TokenFunc::toString(token_arg->token) : std::string();
+	const bool is_string = TokenFunc::isString(token_arg->token);
+	std::string token_string = token_arg ? (is_string 
+		? TokenFunc::asString(token_arg->token) 
+		: TokenFunc::toString(token_arg->token))
+		: std::string();
 	std::string dt = Ifc2x3::Type::ToString(entity->type());
 	if ( upper ) {
 		for (std::string::iterator p = dt.begin(); p != dt.end(); ++p ) *p = toupper(*p);
-		token_string = IfcWrite::IfcCharacterEncoder(token_string);
+		if (is_string) token_string = IfcWrite::IfcCharacterEncoder(token_string);
+	} else {
+		token_string.insert(token_string.begin(),'\'');
+		token_string.push_back('\'');
 	}
 	return dt + "(" + token_string + ")";
 }
diff --git a/src/ifcparse/IfcWrite.cpp b/src/ifcparse/IfcWrite.cpp
index 9c611151b6..2a469d5736 100644
--- a/src/ifcparse/IfcWrite.cpp
+++ b/src/ifcparse/IfcWrite.cpp
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ std::string IfcWriteIntegralArgument::toString(bool upper) const {
 	case Argument_STRING: {
 		std::string d = *(std::string*) data;
 		if ( upper ) d = IfcCharacterEncoder(d);
-		ss << '\'' << d << '\'';
+		ss << d;
 		break; 
 	} case Argument_VECTOR_INT:
 		ss << "(";