diff --git a/src/document/html/parser/parse.c b/src/document/html/parser/parse.c
index fcf343213..6cf2f8e32 100644
--- a/src/document/html/parser/parse.c
+++ b/src/document/html/parser/parse.c
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ next_attr:
 	n = name;
 	name_start = e;
 
-	while (atchr(*n) && atchr(*e) && toupper(*e) == toupper(*n)) e++, n++;
+	while (atchr(*n) && atchr(*e) && c_toupper(*e) == c_toupper(*n)) e++, n++;
 	found = !*n && !atchr(*e);
 
 	if (found && (flags & HTML_ATTR_TEST)) return name_start;
@@ -504,8 +504,8 @@ static struct element_info elements[] = {
 static int
 compar(const void *a, const void *b)
 {
-	return strcasecmp(((struct element_info *) a)->name,
-			  ((struct element_info *) b)->name);
+	return c_strcasecmp(((struct element_info *) a)->name,
+			    ((struct element_info *) b)->name);
 }
 
 #else
@@ -548,7 +548,7 @@ void
 init_tags_lookup(void)
 {
 #ifdef USE_FASTFIND
-	fastfind_index(&ff_tags_index, FF_COMPRESS);
+	fastfind_index(&ff_tags_index, FF_COMPRESS | FF_LOCALE_INDEP);
 #endif
 }
 
diff --git a/src/util/conv.c b/src/util/conv.c
index e35ecdce4..13e9f87b7 100644
--- a/src/util/conv.c
+++ b/src/util/conv.c
@@ -534,3 +534,99 @@ sanitize_url(unsigned char *url)
 	return 1;
 }
 
+
+int c_tolower(int c) {
+	switch (c)
+	{
+		case 'A': return 'a';
+		case 'B': return 'b';
+		case 'C': return 'c';
+		case 'D': return 'd';
+		case 'E': return 'e';
+		case 'F': return 'f';
+		case 'G': return 'g';
+		case 'H': return 'h';
+		case 'I': return 'i';
+		case 'J': return 'j';
+		case 'K': return 'k';
+		case 'L': return 'l';
+		case 'M': return 'm';
+		case 'N': return 'n';
+		case 'O': return 'o';
+		case 'P': return 'p';
+		case 'Q': return 'q';
+		case 'R': return 'r';
+		case 'S': return 's';
+		case 'T': return 't';
+		case 'U': return 'u';
+		case 'V': return 'v';
+		case 'W': return 'w';
+		case 'X': return 'x';
+		case 'Y': return 'y';
+		case 'Z': return 'z';
+		default: return c;
+	}
+}
+
+int c_toupper(int c) {
+	switch (c) {
+		case 'a': return 'A';
+		case 'b': return 'B';
+		case 'c': return 'C';
+		case 'd': return 'D';
+		case 'e': return 'E';
+		case 'f': return 'F';
+		case 'g': return 'G';
+		case 'h': return 'H';
+		case 'i': return 'I';
+		case 'j': return 'J';
+		case 'k': return 'K';
+		case 'l': return 'L';
+		case 'm': return 'M';
+		case 'n': return 'N';
+		case 'o': return 'O';
+		case 'p': return 'P';
+		case 'q': return 'Q';
+		case 'r': return 'R';
+		case 's': return 'S';
+		case 't': return 'T';
+		case 'u': return 'U';
+		case 'v': return 'V';
+		case 'w': return 'W';
+		case 'x': return 'X';
+		case 'y': return 'Y';
+		case 'z': return 'Z';
+		default: return c;
+	}
+}
+
+int c_isupper (int c)
+{
+	switch (c)
+	{
+		case 'A': case 'B': case 'C': case 'D': case 'E': case 'F':
+		case 'G': case 'H': case 'I': case 'J': case 'K': case 'L':
+		case 'M': case 'N': case 'O': case 'P': case 'Q': case 'R':
+		case 'S': case 'T': case 'U': case 'V': case 'W': case 'X':
+		case 'Y': case 'Z':
+			return 1;
+		default:
+			return 0;
+	}
+}
+
+int c_islower (int c)
+{
+	switch (c)
+	{
+		case 'a': case 'b': case 'c': case 'd': case 'e': case 'f':
+		case 'g': case 'h': case 'i': case 'j': case 'k': case 'l':
+		case 'm': case 'n': case 'o': case 'p': case 'q': case 'r':
+		case 's': case 't': case 'u': case 'v': case 'w': case 'x':
+		case 'y': case 'z':
+			return 1;
+		default:
+			return 0;
+	}
+}
+
diff --git a/src/util/conv.h b/src/util/conv.h
index 605388bb4..b364f1987 100644
--- a/src/util/conv.h
+++ b/src/util/conv.h
@@ -182,6 +182,16 @@ trim_chars(unsigned char *s, unsigned char c, int *len)
 	return s;
 }
 
+/* Convert a character to {lower|upper}case using the
+ * ASCII character set (as if in the C locale) */
+int c_tolower(int c);
+int c_toupper(int c);
+
+/* Check whether a character is {lower|upper}case using the
+ * the ASCII character set (as if in the C locale) */
+int c_islower(int c);
+int c_isupper(int c);
+
 /** Convert uppercase letters in @a string with the given @a length to
  * lowercase. */
 static inline void
@@ -192,6 +202,16 @@ convert_to_lowercase(unsigned char *string, int length)
 			string[length] = tolower(string[length]);
 }
 
+/* Convert uppercase letters in @string with the given @length to lowercase
+ * using the ASCII character set (as if in the C locale) */
+static inline void
+convert_to_lowercase_locale_indep(unsigned char *string, int length)
+{
+	for (length--; length >= 0; length--)
+		if (c_isupper(string[length]))
+			string[length] = c_tolower(string[length]);
+}
+
 /** This function drops control chars, nbsp char and limit the number
  * of consecutive space chars to one. It modifies its argument. */
 void clr_spaces(unsigned char *str);
diff --git a/src/util/fastfind.c b/src/util/fastfind.c
index 17ac97ed8..a55b6d912 100644
--- a/src/util/fastfind.c
+++ b/src/util/fastfind.c
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ struct fastfind_info {
 	int leafsets_count;
 
 	unsigned int case_aware:1;
+	unsigned int locale_indep:1;
 	unsigned int compress:1;
 
 	int idxtab[FF_MAX_CHARS];
@@ -233,6 +234,7 @@ FF_DBG_dump_stats(struct fastfind_info *info)
 	fprintf(stderr, "------ FastFind Statistics ------\n");
 	fprintf(stderr, "Comment     : %s\n", info->debug.comment);
 	fprintf(stderr, "Case-aware  : %s\n", info->case_aware ? "yes" : "no");
+	fprintf(stderr, "Locale-indep: %s\n", info->locale_indep ? "yes" : "no");
 	fprintf(stderr, "Compress    : %s\n", info->compress ? "yes" : "no");
 	fprintf(stderr, "Uniq_chars  : %s\n", info->uniq_chars);
 	fprintf(stderr, "Uniq_chars #: %d/%d max.\n", info->uniq_chars_count, FF_MAX_CHARS);
@@ -292,6 +294,7 @@ init_fastfind(struct fastfind_index *index, enum fastfind_flags flags)
 
 	info->min_key_len = FF_MAX_KEYLEN;
 	info->case_aware = !!(flags & FF_CASE_AWARE);
+	info->locale_indep = !!(flags & FF_LOCALE_INDEP);
 	info->compress = !!(flags & FF_COMPRESS);
 
 	FF_DBG_mem(info, sizeof(*info) - sizeof(info->debug));
@@ -434,7 +437,7 @@ compress_tree(struct ff_node *leafset, struct fastfind_info *info)
 	}
 }
 
-#define ifcase(c) (info->case_aware ? (c) : toupper(c))
+#define ifcase(c) ( info->case_aware ? (c) : (info->locale_indep ? c_toupper(c) : toupper(c)) )
 
 struct fastfind_index *
 fastfind_index(struct fastfind_index *index, enum fastfind_flags flags)
@@ -622,7 +625,10 @@ fastfind_search(struct fastfind_index *index,
 	if (info->case_aware)
 		FF_SEARCH(key[i]);
 	else
-		FF_SEARCH(toupper(key[i]));
+		if (info->locale_indep)
+			FF_SEARCH(c_toupper(key[i]));
+		else
+			FF_SEARCH(toupper(key[i]));
 
 	return NULL;
 }
diff --git a/src/util/fastfind.h b/src/util/fastfind.h
index a6b855854..b01427828 100644
--- a/src/util/fastfind.h
+++ b/src/util/fastfind.h
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ enum fastfind_flags {
 	FF_NONE = 0,
 	FF_CASE_AWARE = 1,	/**< honour case when comparing */
 	FF_COMPRESS = 2,	/**< compress nodes if possible */
+	FF_LOCALE_INDEP = 4	/**< whether the case conversion is
+				 *   locale independent or not */
 };
 
 struct fastfind_index {
diff --git a/src/util/string.c b/src/util/string.c
index 076c491b8..d4ef1c63f 100644
--- a/src/util/string.c
+++ b/src/util/string.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <limits.h>
 
 #include "elinks.h"
 
@@ -233,11 +234,91 @@ elinks_strlcmp(const unsigned char *s1, size_t n1,
 
 int
 elinks_strlcasecmp(const unsigned char *s1, size_t n1,
-		   const unsigned char *s2, size_t n2)
+		   const unsigned char *s2, size_t n2,
+		   const int locale_indep)
 {
-	strlcmp_device("strlcasecmp", s1, n1, s2, n2, toupper(s1[p]), toupper(s2[p]));
+	if (locale_indep) {
+		strlcmp_device("strlcasecmp", s1, n1, s2, n2, c_toupper(s1[p]), c_toupper(s2[p]));
+	}
+	else {
+		strlcmp_device("strlcasecmp", s1, n1, s2, n2, toupper(s1[p]), toupper(s2[p]));
+	}
 }
 
+/* c_strcasecmp
+ * Taken from GNU coreutils (version 6.9)
+ * File name: lib/c-strcasecmp.c
+ * Copyright (C) 1998-1999, 2005-2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+ * Licensed under the GPL version 2 or any later version.
+ */
+int c_strcasecmp (const char *s1, const char *s2)
+{
+  register const unsigned char *p1 = (const unsigned char *) s1;
+  register const unsigned char *p2 = (const unsigned char *) s2;
+  unsigned char c1, c2;
+
+  if (p1 == p2)
+    return 0;
+
+  do
+    {
+      c1 = c_tolower (*p1);
+      c2 = c_tolower (*p2);
+
+      if (c1 == '\0')
+	break;
+
+      ++p1;
+      ++p2;
+    }
+  while (c1 == c2);
+
+  if (UCHAR_MAX <= INT_MAX)
+    return c1 - c2;
+  else
+    /* On machines where 'char' and 'int' are types of the same size, the
+       difference of two 'unsigned char' values - including the sign bit -
+       doesn't fit in an 'int'.  */
+    return (c1 > c2 ? 1 : c1 < c2 ? -1 : 0);
+}
+
+/* c_strncasecmp
+ * Taken from GNU coreutils (version 6.9)
+ * File name: lib/c-strncasecmp.c
+ *                     ^ (note the "n")
+ * Copyright (C) 1998-1999, 2005-2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+ * Licensed under the GPL version 2 or any later version.
+ */
+int c_strncasecmp (const char *s1, const char *s2, size_t n)
+{
+  register const unsigned char *p1 = (const unsigned char *) s1;
+  register const unsigned char *p2 = (const unsigned char *) s2;
+  unsigned char c1, c2;
+
+  if (p1 == p2 || n == 0)
+    return 0;
+
+  do
+    {
+      c1 = c_tolower (*p1);
+      c2 = c_tolower (*p2);
+
+      if (--n == 0 || c1 == '\0')
+	break;
+
+      ++p1;
+      ++p2;
+    }
+  while (c1 == c2);
+
+  if (UCHAR_MAX <= INT_MAX)
+    return c1 - c2;
+  else
+    /* On machines where 'char' and 'int' are types of the same size, the
+       difference of two 'unsigned char' values - including the sign bit -
+       doesn't fit in an 'int'.  */
+    return (c1 > c2 ? 1 : c1 < c2 ? -1 : 0);
+}
 
 /* The new string utilities: */
 
diff --git a/src/util/string.h b/src/util/string.h
index 0008863d5..243a348c2 100644
--- a/src/util/string.h
+++ b/src/util/string.h
@@ -100,9 +100,16 @@ int elinks_strlcmp(const unsigned char *s1, size_t n1,
 		   const unsigned char *s2, size_t n2);
 
 /** Acts identically to strlcmp(), except for being case insensitive. */
-#define strlcasecmp(a,b,c,d) (errfile = __FILE__, errline = __LINE__, elinks_strlcasecmp(a,b,c,d))
+#define strlcasecmp(a,b,c,d) (errfile = __FILE__, errline = __LINE__, elinks_strlcasecmp(a,b,c,d,0))
+#define c_strlcasecmp(a,b,c,d) (errfile = __FILE__, errline = __LINE__, elinks_strlcasecmp(a,b,c,d,1))
 int elinks_strlcasecmp(const unsigned char *s1, size_t n1,
-		       const unsigned char *s2, size_t n2);
+		       const unsigned char *s2, size_t n2,
+		       const int locale_indep);
+
+/* strcasecmp and strncasecmp which work as if they are
+ * in the C locale - both taken from GNU coreutils */
+int c_strcasecmp(const char *s1, const char *s2);
+int c_strncasecmp(const char *s1, const char *s2, size_t n);
 
 /** @} */