diff --git a/.env.development.local.template b/.env.development.local.template
index 17248068a..c1ba5363b 100644
--- a/.env.development.local.template
+++ b/.env.development.local.template
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0
 [gateway]
 RUCIO_AUTH_HOST=https://rucio-devmaany.cern.ch:443
 RUCIO_HOST=https://rucio-devmaany.cern.ch:443
+PARAMS_ENCODING_ENABLED=false
 
 [oidc]
 OIDC_ENABLED=true
diff --git a/src/lib/core/port/secondary/env-config-gateway-output-port.ts b/src/lib/core/port/secondary/env-config-gateway-output-port.ts
index 8a8fcaf16..9974fc92d 100644
--- a/src/lib/core/port/secondary/env-config-gateway-output-port.ts
+++ b/src/lib/core/port/secondary/env-config-gateway-output-port.ts
@@ -60,4 +60,9 @@ export default interface EnvConfigGatewayOutputPort {
      * @returns the URL of the VO/Experiment community that maintains the Rucio WebUI instance
      */
     projectURL(): Promise<string>;
+
+    /**
+     * @returns whether the query parameters should get URI encoded
+     */
+    paramsEncodingEnabled(): Promise<boolean>;
 }
diff --git a/src/lib/infrastructure/gateway/env-config-gateway.ts b/src/lib/infrastructure/gateway/env-config-gateway.ts
index 0a4a3a3ed..d3f6c0638 100644
--- a/src/lib/infrastructure/gateway/env-config-gateway.ts
+++ b/src/lib/infrastructure/gateway/env-config-gateway.ts
@@ -172,6 +172,15 @@ class EnvConfigGateway implements EnvConfigGatewayOutputPort {
         }
         return Promise.resolve(undefined);
     }
+
+    async paramsEncodingEnabled(): Promise<boolean> {
+        const value = await this.get('PARAMS_ENCODING_ENABLED');
+        if (value === 'true' || value === 'True' || value === 'TRUE') {
+            return Promise.resolve(true);
+        } else {
+            return Promise.resolve(false);
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 export default EnvConfigGateway;
diff --git a/src/lib/sdk/gateway-endpoints.ts b/src/lib/sdk/gateway-endpoints.ts
index ce58c29e3..5483163e0 100644
--- a/src/lib/sdk/gateway-endpoints.ts
+++ b/src/lib/sdk/gateway-endpoints.ts
@@ -206,7 +206,8 @@ export abstract class BaseEndpoint<TDTO extends BaseDTO> {
             throw new Error(`Request not initialized for ${this.constructor.name}`);
         }
 
-        const preparedRequest = prepareRequestArgs(this.request);
+        const encodeParams = await this.envConfigGateway.paramsEncodingEnabled();
+        const preparedRequest = prepareRequestArgs(this.request, encodeParams);
 
         const response: Response = await fetch(preparedRequest.url, preparedRequest.requestArgs);
         if (!response.ok) {
diff --git a/src/lib/sdk/http.ts b/src/lib/sdk/http.ts
index 64319fca6..fb2218c4b 100644
--- a/src/lib/sdk/http.ts
+++ b/src/lib/sdk/http.ts
@@ -17,17 +17,21 @@ export type HTTPRequest = {
 /**
  * Prepares the request arguments for an HTTP request.
  * @param {HTTPRequest} request - The HTTP request to prepare arguments for.
+ * @param {boolean} encodeParams - Whether the query parameters should get URI encoded
  * @returns {{ url: string | URL; requestArgs: RequestInit }} - An object containing the URL and request arguments.
  */
-export function prepareRequestArgs(request: HTTPRequest): {
+export function prepareRequestArgs(
+    request: HTTPRequest,
+    encodeParams: boolean = false,
+): {
     url: string | URL;
     requestArgs: RequestInit;
 } {
     if (request.params) {
         const url = new URL(request.url);
         Object.keys(request.params).forEach(key => {
-            const encodedValue = encodeURIComponent(request.params![key]);
-            url.searchParams.append(key, encodedValue);
+            const value = request.params![key];
+            url.searchParams.append(key, encodeParams ? encodeURIComponent(value) : value);
         });
         request.url = url.toString();
     }
diff --git a/src/lib/sdk/streaming-gateway.ts b/src/lib/sdk/streaming-gateway.ts
index 0c9b1da1a..b73369a7f 100644
--- a/src/lib/sdk/streaming-gateway.ts
+++ b/src/lib/sdk/streaming-gateway.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,17 @@
 import 'reflect-metadata';
 import StreamGatewayOutputPort from '@/lib/core/port/secondary/stream-gateway-output-port';
-import { injectable } from 'inversify';
+import { inject, injectable } from 'inversify';
 import fetch, { Response } from 'node-fetch';
 import { PassThrough, Transform } from 'node:stream';
 import { HTTPRequest, prepareRequestArgs } from '@/lib/sdk/http';
 import { BytesToStringifiedJSONTransform, NewlineDelimittedDataParser } from '@/lib/sdk/stream-transformers';
+import type EnvConfigGatewayOutputPort from '@/lib/core/port/secondary/env-config-gateway-output-port';
+import GATEWAYS from '@/lib/infrastructure/ioc/ioc-symbols-gateway';
+
 @injectable()
 export default class StreamingGateway implements StreamGatewayOutputPort {
+    constructor(@inject(GATEWAYS.ENV_CONFIG) private envConfigGateway: EnvConfigGatewayOutputPort) {}
+
     private convertChunkBytesToString = new Transform({
         transform(chunk, encoding, callback) {
             callback(null, chunk.toString());
@@ -14,7 +19,8 @@ export default class StreamingGateway implements StreamGatewayOutputPort {
     });
 
     async getTextStream(request: HTTPRequest): Promise<PassThrough | Response> {
-        const { url, requestArgs } = prepareRequestArgs(request);
+        const encodeParams = await this.envConfigGateway.paramsEncodingEnabled();
+        const { url, requestArgs } = prepareRequestArgs(request, encodeParams);
 
         const response = await fetch(url, requestArgs);
         if (!response.ok || response.body === null) {
@@ -27,7 +33,8 @@ export default class StreamingGateway implements StreamGatewayOutputPort {
     }
 
     async getJSONChunks(request: HTTPRequest, ndjson: boolean = false): Promise<{ type: 'response' | 'stream'; content: PassThrough | Response }> {
-        const { url, requestArgs } = prepareRequestArgs(request);
+        const encodeParams = await this.envConfigGateway.paramsEncodingEnabled();
+        const { url, requestArgs } = prepareRequestArgs(request, encodeParams);
         const response = await fetch(url, requestArgs);
 
         if (!response.ok || response.body === null) {