diff --git a/api/src/main/java/org/openmrs/util/LocaleUtility.java b/api/src/main/java/org/openmrs/util/LocaleUtility.java
index 54ba421e1a8c..547c1e0384d4 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/org/openmrs/util/LocaleUtility.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/org/openmrs/util/LocaleUtility.java
@@ -135,7 +135,11 @@ public static Locale fromSpecification(String localeSpecification) {
 		try {
 			createdLocale = LocaleUtils.toLocale(localeSpecification);
 		} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
-			createdLocale = generateLocaleFromLegacyFormat(localeSpecification);
+			if (localeSpecification.matches("[a-zA-Z]{2}[-_][a-zA-Z]{2,}")) {
+				return null;
+			} else {
+				createdLocale = generateLocaleFromLegacyFormat(localeSpecification);
+			}
 		}
 		
 		return createdLocale;
diff --git a/api/src/test/java/org/openmrs/util/LocaleUtilityTest.java b/api/src/test/java/org/openmrs/util/LocaleUtilityTest.java
index a7a06cfae37d..140b9f263a17 100644
--- a/api/src/test/java/org/openmrs/util/LocaleUtilityTest.java
+++ b/api/src/test/java/org/openmrs/util/LocaleUtilityTest.java
@@ -185,6 +185,17 @@ public void fromSpecification_shouldGetLocaleFromLanguageCodeAndCountryCode() {
 	public void fromSpecification_shouldGetLocaleFromBCP47Format() {
 		assertEquals(Locale.UK, LocaleUtility.fromSpecification("en-GB"));
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @see LocaleUtility#fromSpecification(String)
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void fromSpecification_shouldReturnNullWhenLocaleFormatIsIncorrectLocaleFromBCP47Format() {
+		LocaleUtility.fromSpecification("en-USA");
+		LocaleUtility.fromSpecification("en_USA");
+		assertEquals(LocaleUtility.fromSpecification("en-USA"), null);
+		assertEquals(LocaleUtility.fromSpecification("en_USA"), null);
+	}
 	
 	/**
 	 * @see LocaleUtility#fromSpecification(String)