diff --git a/lib/taskana-core/src/main/java/pro/taskana/configuration/TaskanaEngineConfiguration.java b/lib/taskana-core/src/main/java/pro/taskana/configuration/TaskanaEngineConfiguration.java
index a249c4956..c1a9f39ed 100644
--- a/lib/taskana-core/src/main/java/pro/taskana/configuration/TaskanaEngineConfiguration.java
+++ b/lib/taskana-core/src/main/java/pro/taskana/configuration/TaskanaEngineConfiguration.java
@@ -246,6 +246,8 @@ public class TaskanaEngineConfiguration {
             while (st.hasMoreTokens()) {
                 classificationTypes.add(st.nextToken().trim().toUpperCase());
             }
+        } else {
+            LOGGER.warn("Configuration issue. Classification type is missing");
         }
         LOGGER.debug("Configured classificationTypes: {}", classificationTypes);
     }
@@ -265,6 +267,8 @@ public class TaskanaEngineConfiguration {
                         classificationCategoriesAux.add(st.nextToken().trim().toUpperCase());
                     }
                     classificationCategoriesByTypeMap.put(type, classificationCategoriesAux);
+                } else {
+                    LOGGER.warn("Configuration issue. Classification categories by type is missing");
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/lib/taskana-core/src/test/java/acceptance/config/TaskanaConfigAccTest.java b/lib/taskana-core/src/test/java/acceptance/config/TaskanaConfigAccTest.java
index c257049ce..da85a607c 100644
--- a/lib/taskana-core/src/test/java/acceptance/config/TaskanaConfigAccTest.java
+++ b/lib/taskana-core/src/test/java/acceptance/config/TaskanaConfigAccTest.java
@@ -2,10 +2,18 @@ package acceptance.config;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintWriter;
 import java.sql.SQLException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
 
+import org.h2.store.fs.FileUtils;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import pro.taskana.configuration.TaskanaEngineConfiguration;
@@ -50,4 +58,85 @@ public class TaskanaConfigAccTest extends TaskanaEngineImpl {
         assertFalse(getConfiguration().getClassificationCategoriesByType("TASK").contains("manual"));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testDoesNotExistPropertyClassificationTypeOrItIsEmpty() throws IOException {
+        taskanaEngineConfiguration.setClassificationTypes(new ArrayList<>());
+        String propertiesFileName = createNewConfigFile("/dummyTestConfig.properties", false, true);
+        String delimiter = ";";
+        try {
+            getConfiguration().initTaskanaProperties(propertiesFileName, delimiter);
+        } finally {
+            deleteFile(propertiesFileName);
+        }
+        assertTrue(taskanaEngineConfiguration.getClassificationTypes().isEmpty());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDoesNotExistPropertyClassificatioCategoryOrItIsEmpty() throws IOException {
+        taskanaEngineConfiguration.setClassificationTypes(new ArrayList<>());
+        taskanaEngineConfiguration.setClassificationCategoriesByType(new HashMap<>());
+        String propertiesFileName = createNewConfigFile("/dummyTestConfig.properties", true, false);
+        String delimiter = ";";
+        try {
+            getConfiguration().initTaskanaProperties(propertiesFileName, delimiter);
+        } finally {
+            deleteFile(propertiesFileName);
+        }
+        assertNull(taskanaEngineConfiguration.getClassificationCategoriesByType(
+            taskanaEngineConfiguration.getClassificationTypes().get(0)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testWithCategoriesAndClassificationFilled() throws IOException {
+        taskanaEngineConfiguration.setClassificationTypes(new ArrayList<String>());
+        taskanaEngineConfiguration.setClassificationCategoriesByType(new HashMap<String, List<String>>());
+        String propertiesFileName = createNewConfigFile("/dummyTestConfig.properties", true, true);
+        String delimiter = ";";
+        try {
+            getConfiguration().initTaskanaProperties(propertiesFileName, delimiter);
+        } finally {
+            deleteFile(propertiesFileName);
+        }
+        assertFalse(taskanaEngineConfiguration.getClassificationTypes().isEmpty());
+        assertFalse(taskanaEngineConfiguration.getClassificationCategoriesByType(
+            taskanaEngineConfiguration.getClassificationTypes().get(0)).isEmpty());
+        assertEquals(taskanaEngineConfiguration.getClassificationTypes().size(), 2);
+        assertEquals(taskanaEngineConfiguration.getClassificationCategoriesByType(
+            taskanaEngineConfiguration.getClassificationTypes().get(0)).size(), 4);
+        assertEquals(taskanaEngineConfiguration.getClassificationCategoriesByType(
+            taskanaEngineConfiguration.getClassificationTypes().get(1)).size(), 1);
+    }
+
+    private String createNewConfigFile(String filename, boolean addingTypes, boolean addingClassification)
+        throws IOException {
+        String userHomeDirectroy = System.getProperty("user.home");
+        String propertiesFileName = userHomeDirectroy + filename;
+        File f = new File(propertiesFileName);
+        if (!f.exists()) {
+            try (PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(propertiesFileName, "UTF-8")) {
+                writer.println("taskana.roles.Admin =Holger|Stefan");
+                writer.println("taskana.roles.businessadmin  = ebe  | konstantin ");
+                writer.println("taskana.roles.user = nobody");
+                if (addingTypes) {
+                    writer.println("taskana.classification.types= TASK , document");
+                }
+                if (addingClassification) {
+                    writer.println("taskana.classification.categories.task= EXTERNAL, manual, autoMAtic, Process");
+                    writer.println("taskana.classification.categories.document= EXTERNAL");
+                }
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                throw e;
+            }
+        }
+        return propertiesFileName;
+    }
+
+    private void deleteFile(String propertiesFileName) {
+        System.out.println("about to delete " + propertiesFileName);
+        File f = new File(propertiesFileName);
+        if (f.exists() && !f.isDirectory()) {
+            FileUtils.delete(propertiesFileName);
+        }
+    }
+
 }