diff --git a/bottle.py b/bottle.py
index 97a56d3e..2c1f0248 100755
--- a/bottle.py
+++ b/bottle.py
@@ -2307,7 +2307,7 @@ def raw(self, key, default=None):
 
     def __getitem__(self, key):
         val = self.environ[self._ekey(key)]
-        if py3k:
+        if val and py3k:
             if isinstance(val, unicode):
                 val = val.encode('latin1').decode('utf8')
             else: