Method convertEncoding

public static function convertEncoding($string)
{
    $pC = PhocacartUtils::getComponentParameters();
    $import_encoding_method = $pC->get('import_encoding_method', '');
    $import_encoding = $pC->get('import_encoding', '');
    $returnString = '';
    if ($import_encoding != '') {
        if ($import_encoding_method == 1) {
            //'iconv'
            $returnString = iconv($import_encoding, "UTF-8", $string);
        } else {
            if ($import_encoding_method == 2) {
                //'mb_convert_encoding'
                $returnString = mb_convert_encoding($string, "UTF-8", $import_encoding);
            } else {
                $returnString = $string;
            }
        }
    } else {
        $returnString = $string;
    }
    return self::removeUtf8Bom($returnString);
}