diff --git a/schemas/iso19115-3.2018/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/schema/iso19115_3_2018/ISO19115_3_2018SchemaPlugin.java b/schemas/iso19115-3.2018/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/schema/iso19115_3_2018/ISO19115_3_2018SchemaPlugin.java
index 5eadc0f62ca..f441859f0f9 100644
--- a/schemas/iso19115-3.2018/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/schema/iso19115_3_2018/ISO19115_3_2018SchemaPlugin.java
+++ b/schemas/iso19115-3.2018/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/schema/iso19115_3_2018/ISO19115_3_2018SchemaPlugin.java
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ public Set<String> getAssociatedFeatureCatalogueUUIDs(Element metadata) {
 
     @Override
     public Set<AssociatedResource> getAssociatedFeatureCatalogues(Element metadata) {
-        return collectAssociatedResources(metadata, "*//mrc:featureCatalogueCitation[@uuidref]");
+        return collectAssociatedResources(metadata, "*//mrc:featureCatalogueCitation[@uuidref != '']");
     }
 
     public Set<String> getAssociatedSourceUUIDs(Element metadata) {
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ public Set<String> getAssociatedSourceUUIDs(Element metadata) {
 
     @Override
     public Set<AssociatedResource> getAssociatedSources(Element metadata) {
-        return collectAssociatedResources(metadata, "*//mrl:source");
+        return collectAssociatedResources(metadata, "*//mrl:source[@uuidref != '']");
     }
 
     private Set<AssociatedResource> collectAssociatedResources(Element metadata, String xpath) {