diff --git a/commons/audit/src/main/java/org/openehealth/ipf/commons/audit/unmarshal/dicom/DICOMAuditParser.java b/commons/audit/src/main/java/org/openehealth/ipf/commons/audit/unmarshal/dicom/DICOMAuditParser.java
index f8ab90e60c..2a6ee16eb9 100644
--- a/commons/audit/src/main/java/org/openehealth/ipf/commons/audit/unmarshal/dicom/DICOMAuditParser.java
+++ b/commons/audit/src/main/java/org/openehealth/ipf/commons/audit/unmarshal/dicom/DICOMAuditParser.java
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ private ParticipantObjectIdentificationType participantObjectIdentificationType(
         poi.setParticipantObjectSensitivity(element.getAttributeValue(PARTICIPANT_OBJECT_SENSITIVITY));
         poi.setParticipantObjectName(element.getChildText(PARTICIPANT_OBJECT_NAME));
         if (element.getChild(PARTICIPANT_OBJECT_QUERY) != null) {
-            poi.setParticipantObjectQuery(Base64.getDecoder().decode(element.getChildText(PARTICIPANT_OBJECT_QUERY)));
+            poi.setParticipantObjectQuery(Base64.getDecoder().decode(element.getChildTextTrim(PARTICIPANT_OBJECT_QUERY)));
         }
         mapInto(poi.getParticipantObjectDetails(), element, PARTICIPANT_OBJECT_DETAIL, this::valuePair);
         mapInto(poi.getParticipantObjectDescriptions(), element, PARTICIPANT_OBJECT_DESCRIPTION, this::partipantObjectDescription);