diff --git a/SAS/SpecificationServices/lib/validation_service.py b/SAS/SpecificationServices/lib/validation_service.py
index c536eebc2bf08c6557c92281ec7b9f501e47f978..41846b296e16f5b35ee496529f52412d9ba15253 100644
--- a/SAS/SpecificationServices/lib/validation_service.py
+++ b/SAS/SpecificationServices/lib/validation_service.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ def _validateXSD(xml, xsdpath):
 
         # Try to parse the XML
         try:
-            doc = parse_xml_string_or_bytestring(BytesIO(xml.encode('utf8')))
+            doc = parse_xml_string_or_bytestring(xml)
         except etree.LxmlError as err:
             logger.error(err)
             return {"valid": False, "error": "XML could not be parsed: %s" % (err,)}