diff --git a/android/config.go b/android/config.go
index ddae886e5..0bca7210b 100644
--- a/android/config.go
+++ b/android/config.go
@@ -93,6 +93,11 @@ func (c Config) PrimaryBuilderInvocations() []bootstrap.PrimaryBuilderInvocation
 	return []bootstrap.PrimaryBuilderInvocation{}
 }
 
+// RunningInsideUnitTest returns true if this code is being run as part of a Soong unit test.
+func (c Config) RunningInsideUnitTest() bool {
+	return c.config.TestProductVariables != nil
+}
+
 // A DeviceConfig object represents the configuration for a particular device
 // being built. For now there will only be one of these, but in the future there
 // may be multiple devices being built.
diff --git a/java/base.go b/java/base.go
index b629f0f19..4e7b18c46 100644
--- a/java/base.go
+++ b/java/base.go
@@ -881,7 +881,7 @@ func (j *Module) collectBuilderFlags(ctx android.ModuleContext, deps deps) javaB
 
 	epEnabled := j.properties.Errorprone.Enabled
 	if (ctx.Config().RunErrorProne() && epEnabled == nil) || Bool(epEnabled) {
-		if config.ErrorProneClasspath == nil && ctx.Config().TestProductVariables == nil {
+		if config.ErrorProneClasspath == nil && !ctx.Config().RunningInsideUnitTest() {
 			ctx.ModuleErrorf("cannot build with Error Prone, missing external/error_prone?")
 		}