diff --git a/codan/org.eclipse.cdt.codan.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/codan/core/param/BasicProblemPreference.java b/codan/org.eclipse.cdt.codan.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/codan/core/param/BasicProblemPreference.java
index fd146b0cc71..7c61f4dc2d4 100644
--- a/codan/org.eclipse.cdt.codan.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/codan/core/param/BasicProblemPreference.java
+++ b/codan/org.eclipse.cdt.codan.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/codan/core/param/BasicProblemPreference.java
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ public class BasicProblemPreference extends AbstractProblemPreference {
 			String val = tokenizer.sval;
 			importValue(val);
 		} catch (IOException e) {
-			new IllegalArgumentException(e);
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
 		}
 	}
 }