diff --git a/bl31/bl31.mk b/bl31/bl31.mk
index 7777954..019a19e 100644
--- a/bl31/bl31.mk
+++ b/bl31/bl31.mk
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
 # Include SPM Makefile
 ################################################################################
 ifeq (${ENABLE_SPM},1)
+ifeq (${EL3_EXCEPTION_HANDLING},0)
+  $(error EL3_EXCEPTION_HANDLING must be 1 for SPM support)
+endif
 $(info Including SPM makefile)
 include services/std_svc/spm/spm.mk
 endif
diff --git a/docs/secure-partition-manager-design.rst b/docs/secure-partition-manager-design.rst
index fec7c00..73406b2 100644
--- a/docs/secure-partition-manager-design.rst
+++ b/docs/secure-partition-manager-design.rst
@@ -125,8 +125,9 @@
 the rest of this document.
 
 To enable SPM support in TF-A, the source code must be compiled with the build
-flag ``ENABLE_SPM=1``. On Arm platforms the build option ``ARM_BL31_IN_DRAM``
-must be set to 1. Also, the location of the binary that contains the BL32 image
+flag ``ENABLE_SPM=1``, along with ``EL3_EXCEPTION_HANDLING=1``. On Arm
+platforms the build option ``ARM_BL31_IN_DRAM`` must be set to 1. Also, the
+location of the binary that contains the BL32 image
 (``BL32=path/to/image.bin``) must be specified.
 
 First, build the Standalone MM Secure Partition. To build it, refer to the