diff --git a/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/entity/mime/MultipartEntityBuilder.java b/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/entity/mime/MultipartEntityBuilder.java
index 8234123eea..f695397a31 100644
--- a/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/entity/mime/MultipartEntityBuilder.java
+++ b/httpclient5/src/main/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/entity/mime/MultipartEntityBuilder.java
@@ -253,12 +253,7 @@ MultipartFormEntity buildEntity() {
         if (charsetCopy == null && contentType != null) {
             charsetCopy = contentType.getCharset();
         }
-        final List<NameValuePair> paramsList = new ArrayList<>(2);
-        paramsList.add(new BasicNameValuePair("boundary", boundaryCopy));
-        if (charsetCopy != null) {
-            paramsList.add(new BasicNameValuePair("charset", charsetCopy.name()));
-        }
-        final NameValuePair[] params = paramsList.toArray(EMPTY_NAME_VALUE_ARRAY);
+        final NameValuePair[] params = new NameValuePair[]{new BasicNameValuePair("boundary", boundaryCopy)};
 
         final ContentType contentTypeCopy;
         if (contentType != null) {
diff --git a/httpclient5/src/test/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/entity/mime/TestMultipartEntityBuilder.java b/httpclient5/src/test/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/entity/mime/TestMultipartEntityBuilder.java
index 6a55a821ef..b2a42e24c9 100644
--- a/httpclient5/src/test/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/entity/mime/TestMultipartEntityBuilder.java
+++ b/httpclient5/src/test/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/entity/mime/TestMultipartEntityBuilder.java
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ public void testMultipartCustomContentType() throws Exception {
                 .setLaxMode()
                 .buildEntity();
         Assertions.assertNotNull(entity);
-        Assertions.assertEquals("application/xml; boundary=blah-blah; charset=UTF-8", entity.getContentType());
+        Assertions.assertEquals("application/xml; charset=UTF-8; boundary=blah-blah", entity.getContentType());
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -99,11 +99,36 @@ public void testMultipartContentTypeParameter() throws Exception {
                         new BasicNameValuePair("charset", "ascii")))
                 .buildEntity();
         Assertions.assertNotNull(entity);
-        Assertions.assertEquals("multipart/form-data; boundary=yada-yada; charset=US-ASCII", entity.getContentType());
+        Assertions.assertEquals("multipart/form-data; boundary=yada-yada; charset=ascii", entity.getContentType());
         Assertions.assertEquals("yada-yada", entity.getMultipart().boundary);
         Assertions.assertEquals(StandardCharsets.US_ASCII, entity.getMultipart().charset);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testMultipartDefaultContentTypeOmitsCharset() throws Exception {
+        final MultipartFormEntity entity = MultipartEntityBuilder.create()
+                .setCharset(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)
+                .setBoundary("yada-yada")
+                .buildEntity();
+        Assertions.assertNotNull(entity);
+        Assertions.assertEquals("multipart/mixed; boundary=yada-yada", entity.getContentType());
+        Assertions.assertEquals("yada-yada", entity.getMultipart().boundary);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMultipartFormDataContentTypeOmitsCharset() throws Exception {
+        // Note: org.apache.hc.core5.http.ContentType.MULTIPART_FORM_DATA uses StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1,
+        // so we create a custom ContentType here
+        final MultipartFormEntity entity = MultipartEntityBuilder.create()
+                .setContentType(ContentType.create("multipart/form-data"))
+                .setCharset(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)
+                .setBoundary("yada-yada")
+                .buildEntity();
+        Assertions.assertNotNull(entity);
+        Assertions.assertEquals("multipart/form-data; boundary=yada-yada", entity.getContentType());
+        Assertions.assertEquals("yada-yada", entity.getMultipart().boundary);
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testMultipartCustomContentTypeParameterOverrides() throws Exception {
         final MultipartFormEntity entity = MultipartEntityBuilder.create()
@@ -116,7 +141,7 @@ public void testMultipartCustomContentTypeParameterOverrides() throws Exception
                 .setLaxMode()
                 .buildEntity();
         Assertions.assertNotNull(entity);
-        Assertions.assertEquals("multipart/form-data; boundary=blah-blah; charset=UTF-8; my=stuff",
+        Assertions.assertEquals("multipart/form-data; boundary=blah-blah; charset=ascii; my=stuff",
                 entity.getContentType());
     }
 
@@ -130,7 +155,7 @@ public void testMultipartCustomContentTypeUsingAddParameter() {
         eb.buildEntity();
         final MultipartFormEntity entity =  eb.buildEntity();
         Assertions.assertNotNull(entity);
-        Assertions.assertEquals("multipart/related; boundary=yada-yada; charset=US-ASCII; my=stuff",
+        Assertions.assertEquals("multipart/related; boundary=yada-yada; charset=ascii; my=stuff",
                 entity.getContentType());
     }
 
diff --git a/httpclient5/src/test/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/entity/mime/TestMultipartFormHttpEntity.java b/httpclient5/src/test/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/entity/mime/TestMultipartFormHttpEntity.java
index 210d0c0da5..3ff515ada9 100644
--- a/httpclient5/src/test/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/entity/mime/TestMultipartFormHttpEntity.java
+++ b/httpclient5/src/test/java/org/apache/hc/client5/http/entity/mime/TestMultipartFormHttpEntity.java
@@ -59,8 +59,9 @@ public void testExplictContractorParams() throws Exception {
         Assertions.assertNotNull(p1);
         Assertions.assertEquals("whatever", p1.getValue());
         final NameValuePair p2 = elem.getParameterByName("charset");
-        Assertions.assertNotNull(p2);
-        Assertions.assertEquals("UTF-8", p2.getValue());
+        Assertions.assertNull(p2,
+                "RFC7578 does not mention charset parameter for Content-Type, " +
+                        "so no charset should be present for MultipartEntity.getContentType()");
     }
 
     @Test