diff --git a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/submit/step/UploadWithEmbargoStep.java b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/submit/step/UploadWithEmbargoStep.java
index ce36e28fa1..cab5069b12 100644
--- a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/submit/step/UploadWithEmbargoStep.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/submit/step/UploadWithEmbargoStep.java
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ public class UploadWithEmbargoStep extends UploadStep
                 String fileDescription =  (String) request.getAttribute(param + "-description");
                 if(fileDescription==null ||fileDescription.length()==0)
                 {
-                    request.getParameter("description");
+                    fileDescription = request.getParameter("description");
                 }
 
                 // if information wasn't passed by User Interface, we had a problem