diff --git a/assemblyline/common/classification.py b/assemblyline/common/classification.py
index 87519119d..ef5b1c4c6 100644
--- a/assemblyline/common/classification.py
+++ b/assemblyline/common/classification.py
@@ -262,6 +262,7 @@ def _get_c12n_groups(self, c12n: str, long_format: bool = True) -> Tuple[List, L
         groups = []
         for gp in grp_part:
             gp = gp.replace("REL TO ", "")
+            gp = gp.replace("REL ", "")
             temp_group = set([x.strip() for x in gp.split(",")])
             for t in temp_group:
                 groups.extend(t.split("/"))
@@ -709,6 +710,7 @@ def is_valid(self, c12n: str, skip_auto_select: bool = False) -> bool:
             return False
 
         c12n = c12n.replace("REL TO ", "")
+        c12n = c12n.replace("REL ", "")
         parts = c12n.split("//")
 
         # There is a maximum of 3 parts