diff --git a/pkg/validation/internal/csv.go b/pkg/validation/internal/csv.go
index 74576b05e..b5b7683c0 100644
--- a/pkg/validation/internal/csv.go
+++ b/pkg/validation/internal/csv.go
@@ -124,6 +124,11 @@ func validateExamplesAnnotations(csv *v1alpha1.ClusterServiceVersion) (errs []er
 
 func validateJSON(value string) error {
 	var js json.RawMessage
+
+	if len(value) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	byteValue := []byte(value)
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(byteValue, &js); err != nil {
 		switch t := err.(type) {
diff --git a/pkg/validation/internal/csv_test.go b/pkg/validation/internal/csv_test.go
index f3b2a83e4..239122907 100644
--- a/pkg/validation/internal/csv_test.go
+++ b/pkg/validation/internal/csv_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package internal
 
 import (
 	"io/ioutil"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -80,6 +81,16 @@ func TestValidateCSV(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			filepath.Join("testdata", "invalid.alm-examples.csv.yaml"),
 		},
+		{
+			validatorFuncTest{
+				description: "should not fail when alm-examples is not informed",
+				wantWarn:    true,
+				errors: []errors.Error{
+					errors.WarnInvalidOperation("provided API should have an example annotation", schema.GroupVersionKind{Group: "etcd.database.coreos.com", Version: "v1beta2", Kind: "EtcdCluster"}),
+				},
+			},
+			filepath.Join("testdata", "correct.csv.empty.example.yaml"),
+		},
 	}
 	for _, c := range cases {
 		b, err := ioutil.ReadFile(c.csvPath)
diff --git a/pkg/validation/internal/testdata/correct.csv.empty.example.yaml b/pkg/validation/internal/testdata/correct.csv.empty.example.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2aa19870d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/validation/internal/testdata/correct.csv.empty.example.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+#! validate-crd: deploy/chart/templates/0000_30_02-clusterserviceversion.crd.yaml
+#! parse-kind: ClusterServiceVersion
+apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
+kind: ClusterServiceVersion
+metadata:
+  name: etcdoperator.v0.9.0
+  namespace: placeholder
+  annotations:
+    "alm-examples": ""
+spec:
+  version: 0.9.0
+  installModes:
+  - type: AllNamespaces
+    supported: true
+  install:
+    strategy: deployment
+    spec:
+      permissions:
+      - serviceAccountName: etcd-operator
+        rules:
+        - apiGroups:
+          - etcd.database.coreos.com
+          resources:
+          - etcdclusters
+          - etcdbackups
+          - etcdrestores
+          verbs:
+          - "*"
+      deployments:
+      - name: etcd-operator
+        spec:
+          replicas: 1
+          template:
+            metadata:
+              name: etcd-operator-alm-owned
+              labels:
+                name: etcd-operator-alm-owned
+            spec:
+              serviceAccountName: etcd-operator
+              containers:
+              - name: etcd-operator
+                command:
+                - etcd-operator
+                - --create-crd=false
+                image: quay.io/coreos/etcd-operator@sha256:db563baa8194fcfe39d1df744ed70024b0f1f9e9b55b5923c2f3a413c44dc6b8
+                env:
+                - name: MY_POD_NAMESPACE
+                  valueFrom:
+                    fieldRef:
+                      fieldPath: metadata.namespace
+                - name: MY_POD_NAME
+                  valueFrom:
+                    fieldRef:
+                      fieldPath: metadata.name
+  customresourcedefinitions:
+    owned:
+    - name: etcdclusters.etcd.database.coreos.com
+      version: v1beta2
+      kind: EtcdCluster
+
+