diff --git a/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_taglist.inc.php b/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_taglist.inc.php
index 17a8e1ec54..b55ef2a6a6 100644
--- a/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_taglist.inc.php
+++ b/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_taglist.inc.php
@@ -130,7 +130,9 @@ class etemplate_widget_taglist extends etemplate_widget
 				self::set_validation_error($form_name,lang('Field must not be empty !!!',$value),'');
 			}
 			$valid =& self::get_array($validated, $form_name, true);
-			if (true) $valid = $value;
+			// returning null instead of array(), as array() will be overwritten by etemplate_new::complete_array_merge()
+			// with preserved old content and therefore user can not empty a taglist
+			if (true) $valid = $value ? $value : null;
 			//error_log(__METHOD__."() $form_name: ".array2string($value_in).' --> '.array2string($value).', allowed='.array2string($allowed));
 		}
 	}