diff --git a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/perf/PerfTest.java b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/perf/PerfTest.java
index fcefdd9323c..7e70f763916 100644
--- a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/perf/PerfTest.java
+++ b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/perf/PerfTest.java
@@ -811,7 +811,7 @@ public abstract class PerfTest {
     }
 
     
-    public class BOMFreeReader extends Reader {
+    public static class BOMFreeReader extends Reader {
         InputStreamReader reader;
         String encoding;
         int MAX_BOM_LENGTH = 5;