diff --git a/icu4c/source/i18n/Makefile.in b/icu4c/source/i18n/Makefile.in
index e5b092c590a..dbee94d5429 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/i18n/Makefile.in
+++ b/icu4c/source/i18n/Makefile.in
@@ -67,13 +67,12 @@ astro.o buddhcal.o islamcal.o japancal.o gregoimp.o hebrwcal.o chnsecal.o \
 sortkey.o bocsu.o coleitr.o coll.o ucoleitr.o \
 ucol.o ucol_bld.o ucol_cnt.o ucol_elm.o ucol_sit.o ucol_tok.o ucol_wgt.o tblcoll.o \
 strmatch.o usearch.o search.o stsearch.o \
-translit.o utrans.o esctrn.o unesctrn.o \
-funcrepl.o strrepl.o tridpars.o \
+translit.o utrans.o esctrn.o unesctrn.o funcrepl.o strrepl.o tridpars.o \
 cpdtrans.o rbt.o rbt_data.o rbt_pars.o rbt_rule.o rbt_set.o \
 nultrans.o remtrans.o casetrn.o titletrn.o tolowtrn.o toupptrn.o anytrans.o \
 name2uni.o uni2name.o nortrans.o quant.o transreg.o \
-regexcmp.o rematch.o repattrn.o regexst.o uregex.o ulocdata.o \
-measfmt.o currfmt.o curramt.o currunit.o measure.o utmscale.o
+regexcmp.o rematch.o repattrn.o regexst.o uregex.o uregexc.o \
+ulocdata.o measfmt.o currfmt.o curramt.o currunit.o measure.o utmscale.o
 
 
 STATIC_OBJECTS = $(OBJECTS:.o=.$(STATIC_O))
diff --git a/icu4c/source/i18n/i18n.dsp b/icu4c/source/i18n/i18n.dsp
index ce857541411..e68473cd930 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/i18n/i18n.dsp
+++ b/icu4c/source/i18n/i18n.dsp
@@ -2274,6 +2274,10 @@ InputPath=.\unicode\uregex.h
 
 !ENDIF 
 
+# End Source File
+# Begin Source File
+
+SOURCE=.\uregexc.cpp
 # End Source File
 # End Group
 # Begin Group "transforms"
diff --git a/icu4c/source/i18n/i18n.vcproj b/icu4c/source/i18n/i18n.vcproj
index d1b14840dd9..b7dc35d00ff 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/i18n/i18n.vcproj
+++ b/icu4c/source/i18n/i18n.vcproj
@@ -1168,6 +1168,9 @@
 						Outputs="..\..\include\unicode\$(InputFileName)"/>
 				</FileConfiguration>
 			</File>
+			<File
+				RelativePath=".\uregexc.cpp">
+			</File>
 		</Filter>
 		<Filter
 			Name="transforms"
diff --git a/icu4c/source/i18n/uregex.cpp b/icu4c/source/i18n/uregex.cpp
index c249d676dd3..fc4a87e74ef 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/i18n/uregex.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/i18n/uregex.cpp
@@ -159,32 +159,6 @@ ErrorExit:
 
 }
 
-
-
-
-//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-//
-//    uregex_openC
-//
-//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-U_CAPI URegularExpression * U_EXPORT2
-uregex_openC( const char           *pattern,
-                    uint32_t        flags,
-                    UParseError    *pe,
-                    UErrorCode     *status) {
-    if (U_FAILURE(*status)) {
-        return NULL;
-    }
-    if (pattern == NULL) {
-        *status = U_ILLEGAL_ARGUMENT_ERROR;
-        return NULL;
-    }
-
-    UnicodeString patString(pattern);
-    URegularExpression *re = uregex_open(patString.getBuffer(), patString.length(), flags, pe, status);
-    return re;
-}
-
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 //
 //    uregex_close
diff --git a/icu4c/source/i18n/uregexc.cpp b/icu4c/source/i18n/uregexc.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8a7f5246738
--- /dev/null
+++ b/icu4c/source/i18n/uregexc.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+*******************************************************************************
+*   Copyright (C) 2003-2004, International Business Machines
+*   Corporation and others.  All Rights Reserved.
+*******************************************************************************
+*   file name:   regexc.cpp
+*   description: The purpose of this function is to separate the codepage
+*       conversion from the rest of the uregex_ API. This can removes any
+*       dependency on codepage conversion, which reduces the overhead of 
+*/
+
+#include "unicode/uregex.h"
+#include "unicode/unistr.h"
+
+//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+//
+//    uregex_openC
+//
+//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+#if !UCONFIG_NO_CONVERSION
+U_CAPI URegularExpression * U_EXPORT2
+uregex_openC( const char           *pattern,
+                    uint32_t        flags,
+                    UParseError    *pe,
+                    UErrorCode     *status) {
+    if (U_FAILURE(*status)) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    if (pattern == NULL) {
+        *status = U_ILLEGAL_ARGUMENT_ERROR;
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    UnicodeString patString(pattern);
+    URegularExpression *re = uregex_open(patString.getBuffer(), patString.length(), flags, pe, status);
+    return re;
+}
+#endif