diff --git a/build/check.xsl b/build/check.xsl
index 83224555..fb292c73 100644
--- a/build/check.xsl
+++ b/build/check.xsl
@@ -64,6 +64,16 @@
 	</xsl:template>
 	
 	
+	<!--
+		Entity IDs should not contain space characters.
+	-->
+	<xsl:template match="md:EntityDescriptor[contains(@entityID, ' ')]">
+		<xsl:call-template name="fatal">
+			<xsl:with-param name="m">entity ID contains space character</xsl:with-param>
+		</xsl:call-template>
+	</xsl:template>
+	
+	
 	<!--
 		Common template to call to report a fatal error on some element within an entity.
 	-->
@@ -71,7 +81,7 @@
 		<xsl:param name="m"/>
 		<xsl:message terminate='no'>
 			<xsl:text>*** </xsl:text>
-			<xsl:value-of select="ancestor::md:EntityDescriptor/@ID"/>
+			<xsl:value-of select="ancestor-or-self::md:EntityDescriptor/@ID"/>
 			<xsl:text>: </xsl:text>
 			<xsl:value-of select="$m"/>
 		</xsl:message>
diff --git a/build/statistics.xsl b/build/statistics.xsl
index 79ca9328..811b0fe2 100644
--- a/build/statistics.xsl
+++ b/build/statistics.xsl
@@ -89,8 +89,6 @@
             Look for some potential problems in the metadata.  We need to do this
             at the start so that we can include or exclude the associated section.
         -->
-        <!-- spaces in entity IDs -->
-        <xsl:variable name="prob.space.entityID" select="$entities[contains(@entityID, ' ')]"/>
         <!-- spaces in Locations -->
         <xsl:variable name="prob.space.location" select="$entities[descendant::*[contains(@Location,' ')]]"/>
 
@@ -128,7 +126,7 @@
                 [@Binding!='urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:profiles:SSO:idp-discovery-protocol']]"/>
         
         <!-- all problems, used as a conditional -->
-        <xsl:variable name="prob.all" select="$prob.space.entityID | $prob.space.location |
+        <xsl:variable name="prob.all" select="$prob.space.location |
             $prob.nohttps.location | $prob.discovery.binding.missing | $prob.discovery.binding.wrong |
             $prob.dup.entityID | $prob.dup.ODNs | $prob.unowned.entities"/>
         <xsl:variable name="prob.count" select="count($prob.all)"/>
@@ -161,17 +159,6 @@
                 -->                
                 <xsl:if test="$prob.count != 0">
                     <h2><a name="problems">Metadata Problems</a></h2>
-                    <xsl:if test="count($prob.space.entityID) != 0">
-                        <p>The following entities have <code>entityID</code> attributes that include space characters:</p>
-                        <ul>
-                            <xsl:for-each select="$prob.space.entityID">
-                                <li>
-                                    <xsl:value-of select="@ID"/>:
-                                    "<code><xsl:value-of select="@entityID"/></code>"
-                                </li>
-                            </xsl:for-each>
-                        </ul>
-                    </xsl:if>
                     <xsl:if test="count($prob.space.location) != 0">
                         <p>The following entities include elements with <code>Location</code> attributes
                         that include space characters:</p>