diff --git a/Python/codecs.c b/Python/codecs.c
index cdf2c44..9b0c4b2 100644
--- a/Python/codecs.c
+++ b/Python/codecs.c
@@ -510,8 +510,7 @@
         wrong_exception_type(exc);
         return NULL;
     }
-    /* ouch: passing NULL, 0, pos gives None instead of u'' */
-    return Py_BuildValue("(u#n)", &end, 0, end);
+    return Py_BuildValue("(Nn)", PyUnicode_New(0, 0), end);
 }