diff --git a/dhis-2/dhis-services/dhis-service-dxf2/src/main/java/org/hisp/dhis/dxf2/datavalueset/DataValueSetImportValidator.java b/dhis-2/dhis-services/dhis-service-dxf2/src/main/java/org/hisp/dhis/dxf2/datavalueset/DataValueSetImportValidator.java
index 2e71592e11fb..cccdc7053c59 100644
--- a/dhis-2/dhis-services/dhis-service-dxf2/src/main/java/org/hisp/dhis/dxf2/datavalueset/DataValueSetImportValidator.java
+++ b/dhis-2/dhis-services/dhis-service-dxf2/src/main/java/org/hisp/dhis/dxf2/datavalueset/DataValueSetImportValidator.java
@@ -351,9 +351,7 @@ private void validateDataValueOrgUnitInUserHierarchy(
             .getOrgUnitInHierarchyMap()
             .get(
                 valueContext.getOrgUnit().getUid(),
-                () ->
-                    organisationUnitService.isDescendant(
-                        valueContext.getOrgUnit(), context.getCurrentOrgUnits()));
+                () -> valueContext.getOrgUnit().isDescendant(context.getCurrentOrgUnits()));
 
     if (!inUserHierarchy) {
       context.addConflict(
diff --git a/dhis-2/dhis-services/dhis-service-dxf2/src/test/java/org/hisp/dhis/dxf2/datavalueset/DataValueSetImportValidatorTest.java b/dhis-2/dhis-services/dhis-service-dxf2/src/test/java/org/hisp/dhis/dxf2/datavalueset/DataValueSetImportValidatorTest.java
index 4db3dd2d5ead..a4c87d0ef9ad 100644
--- a/dhis-2/dhis-services/dhis-service-dxf2/src/test/java/org/hisp/dhis/dxf2/datavalueset/DataValueSetImportValidatorTest.java
+++ b/dhis-2/dhis-services/dhis-service-dxf2/src/test/java/org/hisp/dhis/dxf2/datavalueset/DataValueSetImportValidatorTest.java
@@ -110,11 +110,6 @@ void setUp() {
     approvalService = mock(DataApprovalService.class);
     dataValueService = mock(DataValueService.class);
     organisationUnitService = mock(OrganisationUnitService.class);
-    when(organisationUnitService.isDescendant(any(OrganisationUnit.class), any(Set.class)))
-        .thenReturn(true);
-    when(organisationUnitService.isDescendant(
-            any(OrganisationUnit.class), any(OrganisationUnit.class)))
-        .thenReturn(true);
 
     i18n = mock(I18n.class);
     validator =
@@ -899,6 +894,9 @@ private DataValueContextBuilder createDataValueContext(DataValue dataValue) {
     if (ouId != null) {
       OrganisationUnit ou = new OrganisationUnit();
       ou.setUid(ouId);
+      // we set the path here just for the tests. This is usually done by the persistence layer
+      // but there is no interaction with that in these tests.
+      ou.setPath(ou.getPath());
       builder.orgUnit(ou);
     }
     if (coId != null) {