diff --git a/src/plugins/export/ExportXml.py b/src/plugins/export/ExportXml.py
index e7775845b..98eddf5c2 100644
--- a/src/plugins/export/ExportXml.py
+++ b/src/plugins/export/ExportXml.py
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ def escxml(d):
                   {'"' : '"',
                    '<' : '&lt;',
                    '>' : '&gt;',
-                   })
+                   }) if d else ""
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #