diff --git a/bazel/properties.go b/bazel/properties.go
index 702c31c4d..bb0eafc7b 100644
--- a/bazel/properties.go
+++ b/bazel/properties.go
@@ -194,14 +194,7 @@ func (ll *LabelList) Partition(predicate func(label Label) bool) (LabelList, Lab
 // UniqueSortedBazelLabels takes a []Label and deduplicates the labels, and returns
 // the slice in a sorted order.
 func UniqueSortedBazelLabels(originalLabels []Label) []Label {
-	uniqueLabelsSet := make(map[Label]bool)
-	for _, l := range originalLabels {
-		uniqueLabelsSet[l] = true
-	}
-	var uniqueLabels []Label
-	for l, _ := range uniqueLabelsSet {
-		uniqueLabels = append(uniqueLabels, l)
-	}
+	uniqueLabels := FirstUniqueBazelLabels(originalLabels)
 	sort.SliceStable(uniqueLabels, func(i, j int) bool {
 		return uniqueLabels[i].Label < uniqueLabels[j].Label
 	})
@@ -210,13 +203,13 @@ func UniqueSortedBazelLabels(originalLabels []Label) []Label {
 
 func FirstUniqueBazelLabels(originalLabels []Label) []Label {
 	var labels []Label
-	found := make(map[Label]bool, len(originalLabels))
+	found := make(map[string]bool, len(originalLabels))
 	for _, l := range originalLabels {
-		if _, ok := found[l]; ok {
+		if _, ok := found[l.Label]; ok {
 			continue
 		}
 		labels = append(labels, l)
-		found[l] = true
+		found[l.Label] = true
 	}
 	return labels
 }
diff --git a/bazel/properties_test.go b/bazel/properties_test.go
index c98ae0ea2..751cb8b30 100644
--- a/bazel/properties_test.go
+++ b/bazel/properties_test.go
@@ -33,8 +33,12 @@ func TestUniqueBazelLabels(t *testing.T) {
 				{Label: "b"},
 				{Label: "a"},
 				{Label: "c"},
+				// namespaces
+				{Label: "//foo:bar", OriginalModuleName: "bar"},       // when referenced from foo namespace
+				{Label: "//foo:bar", OriginalModuleName: "//foo:bar"}, // when reference from root namespace
 			},
 			expectedUniqueLabels: []Label{
+				{Label: "//foo:bar", OriginalModuleName: "bar"},
 				{Label: "a"},
 				{Label: "b"},
 				{Label: "c"},
@@ -194,6 +198,9 @@ func TestFirstUniqueBazelLabelList(t *testing.T) {
 					{Label: "b"},
 					{Label: "a"},
 					{Label: "c"},
+					// namespaces
+					{Label: "//foo:bar", OriginalModuleName: "bar"},       // when referenced from foo namespace
+					{Label: "//foo:bar", OriginalModuleName: "//foo:bar"}, // when referenced from root namespace
 				},
 				Excludes: []Label{
 					{Label: "x"},
@@ -207,6 +214,7 @@ func TestFirstUniqueBazelLabelList(t *testing.T) {
 					{Label: "a"},
 					{Label: "b"},
 					{Label: "c"},
+					{Label: "//foo:bar", OriginalModuleName: "bar"},
 				},
 				Excludes: []Label{
 					{Label: "x"},