diff --git a/app/controllers/epp/sessions_controller.rb b/app/controllers/epp/sessions_controller.rb
index 892628ab7..d3db24723 100644
--- a/app/controllers/epp/sessions_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/epp/sessions_controller.rb
@@ -13,9 +13,8 @@ module Epp
       webclient_request = ENV['webclient_ips'].split(',').map(&:strip).include?(request.ip)
       if webclient_request && !Rails.env.test? && !Rails.env.development?
         client_md5 = Certificate.parse_md_from_string(request.env['HTTP_SSL_CLIENT_CERT'])
-        if ENV['cert_path'].nil?
-          logger.error('webclient cert (cert_path) missing, registrar epp/repp disabled')
-        end
+        fail 'webclient cert (cert_path) missing, registrar epp/repp disabled' unless ENV['cert_path'].present?
+
         server_md5 = Certificate.parse_md_from_string(File.read(ENV['cert_path']))
         if client_md5 != server_md5
           epp_errors << {