diff --git a/src/importers/baseImporter.ts b/src/importers/baseImporter.ts
index 67d9f3f62e..a1196b587c 100644
--- a/src/importers/baseImporter.ts
+++ b/src/importers/baseImporter.ts
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ export abstract class BaseImporter {
     }
 
     protected isNullOrWhitespace(str: string): boolean {
-        return str == null || typeof str !== 'string' || str.trim() === '';
+        return Utils.isNullOrWhitespace(str);
     }
 
     protected getValueOrDefault(str: string, defaultValue: string = null): string {
diff --git a/src/misc/utils.ts b/src/misc/utils.ts
index 2c60a1a7a3..c7f3eeccca 100644
--- a/src/misc/utils.ts
+++ b/src/misc/utils.ts
@@ -236,6 +236,10 @@ export class Utils {
         };
     }
 
+    static isNullOrWhitespace(str: string): boolean {
+        return str == null || typeof str !== 'string' || str.trim() === '';
+    }
+
     private static validIpAddress(ipString: string): boolean {
         // tslint:disable-next-line
         const ipRegex = /^(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)$/;