diff --git a/aria/utils/yaml.py b/aria/utils/yaml.py
index 4c9c557..86f7f5b 100644
--- a/aria/utils/yaml.py
+++ b/aria/utils/yaml.py
@@ -48,3 +48,9 @@
 
 finally:
     from ruamel import yaml                                                     # pylint: disable=unused-import
+
+
+# Enables support for writing Python Unicode class with YAML. This is a temporary fix which
+# should be replaced by a proper usage of ruamel
+# (addressed in https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/ARIA-429).
+yaml.SafeLoader.add_constructor('tag:yaml.org,2002:python/unicode', lambda _, node: node.value)
diff --git a/tests/cli/csar.py b/tests/cli/csar.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3bbe4ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cli/csar.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+# contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+# this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+# The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+# (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+# the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import os
+
+from aria.cli import csar
+from ..helpers import get_resource_uri
+
+
+def _create_archive(tmpdir, mocker):
+    service_template_dir = get_resource_uri(os.path.join(
+        'service-templates', 'tosca-simple-1.0', 'node-cellar', 'node-cellar.yaml'))
+    csar_path = str(tmpdir.join('csar_archive.csar'))
+    csar.write(service_template_dir, csar_path, mocker.MagicMock())
+    return csar_path
+
+
+def test_create_csar(tmpdir, mocker):
+    csar_path = _create_archive(tmpdir, mocker)
+    assert os.path.exists(csar_path)
+
+
+def test_read_csar(tmpdir, mocker):
+    csar_path = _create_archive(tmpdir, mocker)
+    csar_reader = csar.read(csar_path)
+    assert csar_reader