Try this:
<?php
$handle = fopen ("specialchars.csv","r");
echo '<table border="1"><tr><td>First name</td><td>Last name</td></tr><tr>';
while ($data = fgetcsv ($handle, 1000, ";")) {
$data = array_map("utf8_encode", $data); //added
$num = count ($data);
for ($c=0; $c < $num; $c++) {
// output data
echo "<td>$data[$c]</td>";
}
echo "</tr><tr>";
}
?>