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Compare with XML's entry line, the "XML Declaration", encoded itself in UTF-8 or UTF-16 (only used once, which should really be enough; does one really want to switch to another encoding in the middle of a file, which demands appropriate editor support?). See: Autodetection of Character Encodings (Non-Normative)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
In this case for example:
:- encoding(utf8).
"in the remainder of the file" is too vague for this use, but likely means "after the dot + EOL of this directive".