diff --git a/src/caosdb/configuration.py b/src/caosdb/configuration.py
index 4d0797844182b8465ef5f97a869e31ee4fcaf47d..59f6c6a094d2df88384eb360dc4789ec99e8d787 100644
--- a/src/caosdb/configuration.py
+++ b/src/caosdb/configuration.py
@@ -48,4 +48,5 @@ def configure(inifile):
 
 
 def get_config():
+    global _pycaosdbconf
     return _pycaosdbconf