diff --git a/lib/core/agent.py b/lib/core/agent.py
index 1604f83cd..68fc22817 100644
--- a/lib/core/agent.py
+++ b/lib/core/agent.py
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ from lib.core.settings import BOUNDARY_BACKSLASH_MARKER
 from lib.core.settings import CUSTOM_INJECTION_MARK_CHAR
 from lib.core.settings import DEFAULT_COOKIE_DELIMITER
 from lib.core.settings import DEFAULT_GET_POST_DELIMITER
-from lib.core.settings import DEFAULT_MYSQL_CHARACTER_SET
 from lib.core.settings import GENERIC_SQL_COMMENT
 from lib.core.settings import PAYLOAD_DELIMITER
 from lib.core.settings import REPLACEMENT_MARKER
@@ -401,10 +400,7 @@ class Agent(object):
                 nulledCastedField = field
             else:
                 if not (Backend.isDbms(DBMS.SQLITE) and not isDBMSVersionAtLeast('3')):
-                    if Backend.isDbms(DBMS.MYSQL):
-                        nulledCastedField = rootQuery.cast.query.replace(")", " CHARACTER SET %s)") % (field, DEFAULT_MYSQL_CHARACTER_SET)
-                    else:
-                        nulledCastedField = rootQuery.cast.query % field
+                    nulledCastedField = rootQuery.cast.query % field
                 if Backend.getIdentifiedDbms() in (DBMS.ACCESS,):
                     nulledCastedField = rootQuery.isnull.query % (nulledCastedField, nulledCastedField)
                 else:
diff --git a/lib/core/settings.py b/lib/core/settings.py
index 1e14fd755..d478ae50a 100644
--- a/lib/core/settings.py
+++ b/lib/core/settings.py
@@ -224,10 +224,6 @@ HOST_ALIASES = ("host",)
 
 HSQLDB_DEFAULT_SCHEMA = "PUBLIC"
 
-# Default character set used in MySQL
-# Reference: http://pieroxy.net/blog/2013/05/28/mysql_charset_hell.html
-DEFAULT_MYSQL_CHARACTER_SET = "latin1"
-
 # Names that can't be used to name files on Windows OS
 WINDOWS_RESERVED_NAMES = ("CON", "PRN", "AUX", "NUL", "COM1", "COM2", "COM3", "COM4", "COM5", "COM6", "COM7", "COM8", "COM9", "LPT1", "LPT2", "LPT3", "LPT4", "LPT5", "LPT6", "LPT7", "LPT8", "LPT9")
 
diff --git a/lib/techniques/blind/inference.py b/lib/techniques/blind/inference.py
index 39fad7e77..db6df84a1 100644
--- a/lib/techniques/blind/inference.py
+++ b/lib/techniques/blind/inference.py
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ from lib.core.enums import DBMS
 from lib.core.enums import PAYLOAD
 from lib.core.exception import SqlmapThreadException
 from lib.core.settings import CHAR_INFERENCE_MARK
-from lib.core.settings import DEFAULT_MYSQL_CHARACTER_SET
 from lib.core.settings import INFERENCE_BLANK_BREAK
 from lib.core.settings import INFERENCE_UNKNOWN_CHAR
 from lib.core.settings import INFERENCE_GREATER_CHAR
@@ -593,9 +592,6 @@ def bisection(payload, expression, length=None, charsetType=None, firstChar=None
 
     _ = finalValue or partialValue
 
-    if Backend.isDbms(DBMS.MYSQL) and safechardecode(_) != _:
-        _ = getUnicode(safechardecode(_).encode(DEFAULT_MYSQL_CHARACTER_SET))
-
     return getCounter(kb.technique), safecharencode(_) if kb.safeCharEncode else _
 
 def queryOutputLength(expression, payload):
diff --git a/plugins/dbms/mysql/syntax.py b/plugins/dbms/mysql/syntax.py
index 312141b55..e593a51fb 100644
--- a/plugins/dbms/mysql/syntax.py
+++ b/plugins/dbms/mysql/syntax.py
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ See the file 'doc/COPYING' for copying permission
 import binascii
 
 from lib.core.convert import utf8encode
-from lib.core.settings import DEFAULT_MYSQL_CHARACTER_SET
 from plugins.generic.syntax import Syntax as GenericSyntax
 
 class Syntax(GenericSyntax):
@@ -27,7 +26,7 @@ class Syntax(GenericSyntax):
             try:
                 retVal = "0x%s" % binascii.hexlify(value)
             except UnicodeEncodeError:
-                retVal = "CONVERT(0x%s USING %s)" % ("".join("%.2x" % ord(_) for _ in utf8encode(value)), DEFAULT_MYSQL_CHARACTER_SET)
+                retVal = "CONVERT(0x%s USING utf8)" % "".join("%.2x" % ord(_) for _ in utf8encode(value))
             return retVal
 
         return Syntax._escape(expression, quote, escaper)