diff --git a/dependency-check-core/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencycheck/suppression/SuppressionHandler.java b/dependency-check-core/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencycheck/suppression/SuppressionHandler.java
index 5c17859b9..27551f83d 100644
--- a/dependency-check-core/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencycheck/suppression/SuppressionHandler.java
+++ b/dependency-check-core/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencycheck/suppression/SuppressionHandler.java
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ public class SuppressionHandler extends DefaultHandler {
             rule.addCve(currentText.toString());
         } else if (CVSS_BELOW.equals(qName)) {
             final float cvss = Float.parseFloat(currentText.toString());
+            rule.addCvssBelow(cvss);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/dependency-check-core/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencycheck/suppression/SuppressionParser.java b/dependency-check-core/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencycheck/suppression/SuppressionParser.java
index 0bfc0756f..ac415dbe6 100644
--- a/dependency-check-core/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencycheck/suppression/SuppressionParser.java
+++ b/dependency-check-core/src/main/java/org/owasp/dependencycheck/suppression/SuppressionParser.java
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ public class SuppressionParser {
             xmlReader.setContentHandler(handler);
 
             final InputStream inputStream = new FileInputStream(file);
-            final Reader reader = new InputStreamReader(inputStream); //, "UTF-8");
+            final Reader reader = new InputStreamReader(inputStream, "UTF-8");
             final InputSource in = new InputSource(reader);
             //in.setEncoding("UTF-8");
 
diff --git a/dependency-check-core/src/test/java/org/owasp/dependencycheck/suppression/SuppressionHandlerTest.java b/dependency-check-core/src/test/java/org/owasp/dependencycheck/suppression/SuppressionHandlerTest.java
index a47dc4515..93165264a 100644
--- a/dependency-check-core/src/test/java/org/owasp/dependencycheck/suppression/SuppressionHandlerTest.java
+++ b/dependency-check-core/src/test/java/org/owasp/dependencycheck/suppression/SuppressionHandlerTest.java
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ public class SuppressionHandlerTest {
         xmlReader.setContentHandler(handler);
 
         InputStream inputStream = new FileInputStream(file);
-        Reader reader = new InputStreamReader(inputStream); //, "UTF-8");
+        Reader reader = new InputStreamReader(inputStream, "UTF-8");
         InputSource in = new InputSource(reader);
         //in.setEncoding("UTF-8");