diff --git a/pyjsonld.py b/pyjsonld.py
index 5f31ca0e5..bb3213624 100644
--- a/pyjsonld.py
+++ b/pyjsonld.py
@@ -1016,13 +1016,6 @@ class JsonLdProcessor(object):
                 'Could not convert input to RDF dataset before normalization.',
                 'jsonld.NormalizeError', cause=cause)
 
-        # check that the data is not empty
-        if '@default' in dataset:
-            if not dataset['@default']:
-                raise JsonLdError(
-                    'Could not convert input to RDF dataset.',
-                    'jsonld.NormalizeError', cause=None)
-
         # do normalization
         return self._normalize(dataset, options)