diff --git a/rules/REQUEST-901-INITIALIZATION.conf b/rules/REQUEST-901-INITIALIZATION.conf
index 97e798822..fcb8f240b 100644
--- a/rules/REQUEST-901-INITIALIZATION.conf
+++ b/rules/REQUEST-901-INITIALIZATION.conf
@@ -248,6 +248,15 @@ SecRule &TX:enforce_bodyproc_urlencoded "@eq 0" \
     ver:'OWASP_CRS/4.0.0-rc1',\
     setvar:'tx.enforce_bodyproc_urlencoded=0'"
 
+# Default check for UTF8 encoding validation
+SecRule &TX:crs_validate_utf8_encoding "@eq 0" \
+    "id:901169,\
+    phase:1,\
+    pass,\
+    nolog,\
+    ver:'OWASP_CRS/4.0.0-rc1',\
+    setvar:'tx.crs_validate_utf8_encoding=0'"
+
 #
 # -=[ Initialize internal variables ]=-
 #