diff --git a/ci-templates.yml b/ci-templates.yml
index 27a5e40..c3fc668 100644
--- a/ci-templates.yml
+++ b/ci-templates.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
   image: docker:20.10@sha256:2967f0819c84dd589ed0a023b9d25dcfe7a3c123d5bf784ffbb77edf55335f0c
   before_script:
     - echo "$CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD" | docker login "$CI_REGISTRY" -u "$CI_REGISTRY_USER" --password-stdin
+    - if [ -z "$TAG" ]; then echo "ERROR: TAG variable is empty"; exit 1; fi
   script:
     - cd $DOCKER_CONTEXT
     - |