diff --git a/webservice/rest/locallib.php b/webservice/rest/locallib.php
index f0bd340b166..27005608436 100644
--- a/webservice/rest/locallib.php
+++ b/webservice/rest/locallib.php
@@ -150,7 +150,9 @@ class webservice_rest_server extends webservice_base_server {
         if ($this->restformat == 'json') {
             $errorobject = new stdClass;
             $errorobject->exception = get_class($ex);
-            $errorobject->errorcode = $ex->errorcode;
+            if (isset($ex->errorcode)) {
+                $errorobject->errorcode = $ex->errorcode;
+            }
             $errorobject->message = $ex->getMessage();
             if (debugging() and isset($ex->debuginfo)) {
                 $errorobject->debuginfo = $ex->debuginfo;
@@ -159,8 +161,10 @@ class webservice_rest_server extends webservice_base_server {
         } else {
             $error = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>'."\n";
             $error .= '<EXCEPTION class="'.get_class($ex).'">'."\n";
-            $error .= '<ERRORCODE>' . htmlspecialchars($ex->errorcode, ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8')
-                    . '</ERRORCODE>' . "\n";
+            if (isset($ex->errorcode)) {
+                $error .= '<ERRORCODE>' . htmlspecialchars($ex->errorcode, ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8')
+                        . '</ERRORCODE>' . "\n";
+            }
             $error .= '<MESSAGE>'.htmlspecialchars($ex->getMessage(), ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8').'</MESSAGE>'."\n";
             if (debugging() and isset($ex->debuginfo)) {
                 $error .= '<DEBUGINFO>'.htmlspecialchars($ex->debuginfo, ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8').'</DEBUGINFO>'."\n";