diff --git a/src/main/java/org/metanorma/fop/PDFGenerator.java b/src/main/java/org/metanorma/fop/PDFGenerator.java
index d1e4630..a6599cf 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/metanorma/fop/PDFGenerator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/metanorma/fop/PDFGenerator.java
@@ -580,7 +580,12 @@ private void runFOP (fontConfig fontcfg, Source src, File pdf) throws IOExceptio
             FOUserAgent foUserAgent = fopFactory.newFOUserAgent();
             // configure foUserAgent
             foUserAgent.setProducer("Ribose Metanorma mn2pdf version " + Util.getAppVersion());
-            foUserAgent.getRendererOptions().put("pdf-a-mode", PDF_A_MODE);
+            if (encryptionParams.isEmpty()) {
+                foUserAgent.getRendererOptions().put("pdf-a-mode", PDF_A_MODE);
+            } else {
+                logger.severe("PDF/A doesn't allow encrypted PDFs. PDF will be generated in non-PDF/A mode.");
+            }
+
             setEncryptionParams(foUserAgent);
             
             //Adding a simple logging listener that writes to stdout and stderr