diff --git a/contrib/instrumentation_as_json.py b/contrib/instrumentation_as_json.py
index 67ef12bbcd4e4a9646e95dff0a704e7f71e8bb5d..0dd888b6c95586c4be3750d6d34081c37e1d369b 100644
--- a/contrib/instrumentation_as_json.py
+++ b/contrib/instrumentation_as_json.py
@@ -25,5 +25,7 @@ def asval(cc):
             return f
 
 def export(insmgr):
-    """Constructs a JSON string based on data from given insmgr"""
-    return json.dumps(asval(insmgr))
\ No newline at end of file
+    """Constructs a JSON string based on data from given insmgr.
+    @type insmgr: satella.instrumentation.CounterCollection
+    @return: UTF-8 encoded JSON"""
+    return json.dumps(asval(insmgr), ensure_ascii=False).encode('utf8')
\ No newline at end of file