diff --git a/pytimeparse/__init__.py b/pytimeparse/__init__.py
index 8abad38..bf1af9d 100644
--- a/pytimeparse/__init__.py
+++ b/pytimeparse/__init__.py
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 '''
 
 from __future__ import absolute_import
-from codecs import open
 from os import path
 
 # Version. For each new release, the version number should be updated
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index c57954d..7f5e854 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 '''
 
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages  # Always prefer setuptools over distutils
-from codecs import open  # To use a consistent encoding
 from os import path
 
 HERE = path.abspath(path.dirname(__file__))