diff --git a/python-sphinxcontrib-htmlhelp.spec b/python-sphinxcontrib-htmlhelp.spec
index a50f2c1..950cb88 100644
--- a/python-sphinxcontrib-htmlhelp.spec
+++ b/python-sphinxcontrib-htmlhelp.spec
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 %global pypi_name sphinxcontrib-htmlhelp
 
 # when bootstrapping sphinx, we cannot run tests yet
-%bcond_without check
+# RHEL does not include html5lib, without which the tests fail
+%bcond check %{undefined rhel}
 
 Name:           python-%{pypi_name}
 Version:        2.0.0