diff --git a/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/utils/metadata/core.py b/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/utils/metadata/core.py
index ba105b510a7c5..bdada23ef9d11 100644
--- a/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/utils/metadata/core.py
+++ b/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/utils/metadata/core.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 from six import iteritems
 
+from ..common import to_string
 from .constants import DEFAULT_BLACKLIST
 from .utils import is_primitive
 from .version import parse_version
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ def __init__(self, check_name, check_id, logger=None, metadata_transformers=None
             self.metadata_transformers.update(metadata_transformers)
 
     def submit_raw(self, name, value):
-        datadog_agent.set_check_metadata(self.check_id, name, value)
+        datadog_agent.set_check_metadata(self.check_id, to_string(name), to_string(value))
 
     def submit(self, name, value, options):
         transformer = self.metadata_transformers.get(name)
diff --git a/datadog_checks_base/tests/test_metadata.py b/datadog_checks_base/tests/test_metadata.py
index 29077d7003bc1..a0c1b2e168ae2 100644
--- a/datadog_checks_base/tests/test_metadata.py
+++ b/datadog_checks_base/tests/test_metadata.py
@@ -8,8 +8,9 @@
 
 import mock
 import pytest
+from six import PY3
 
-from datadog_checks.base import AgentCheck
+from datadog_checks.base import AgentCheck, ensure_bytes, ensure_unicode
 
 pytestmark = pytest.mark.metadata
 
@@ -55,6 +56,24 @@ class NewAgentCheck(AgentCheck):
 
             m.assert_called_once_with('test:123', 'foo', 'rab')
 
+    def test_encoding(self):
+        check = AgentCheck('test', {}, [{}])
+        check.check_id = 'test:123'
+        if PY3:
+            constructor = ensure_bytes
+            finalizer = ensure_unicode
+        else:
+            constructor = ensure_unicode
+            finalizer = ensure_bytes
+
+        name = constructor(u'nam\u00E9')
+        value = constructor(u'valu\u00E9')
+
+        with mock.patch(SET_CHECK_METADATA_METHOD) as m:
+            check.set_metadata(name, value)
+
+            m.assert_called_once_with('test:123', finalizer(name), finalizer(value))
+
 
 class TestVersion:
     def test_override_allowed(self):