diff --git a/web/src/main/java/org/devgateway/ocds/web/rest/controller/export/ExcelExportController.java b/web/src/main/java/org/devgateway/ocds/web/rest/controller/export/ExcelExportController.java
index 393ace0e6..714fb65b0 100644
--- a/web/src/main/java/org/devgateway/ocds/web/rest/controller/export/ExcelExportController.java
+++ b/web/src/main/java/org/devgateway/ocds/web/rest/controller/export/ExcelExportController.java
@@ -1,6 +1,17 @@
 package org.devgateway.ocds.web.rest.controller.export;
 
 import io.swagger.annotations.ApiOperation;
+import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.util.zip.Deflater;
+import java.util.zip.ZipEntry;
+import java.util.zip.ZipOutputStream;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
+import javax.validation.Valid;
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileCleaningTracker;
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.devgateway.ocds.persistence.mongo.Release;
@@ -8,6 +19,8 @@
 import org.devgateway.ocds.web.rest.controller.GenericOCDSController;
 import org.devgateway.ocds.web.rest.controller.request.YearFilterPagingRequest;
 import org.devgateway.ocds.web.util.SettingsUtils;
+import org.devgateway.toolkit.persistence.repository.AdminSettingsRepository;
+import org.devgateway.toolkit.web.security.SecurityUtil;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
@@ -16,17 +29,6 @@
 import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;
 import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;
 
-import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
-import javax.validation.Valid;
-import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
-import java.io.File;
-import java.io.FileInputStream;
-import java.io.FileOutputStream;
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.util.zip.Deflater;
-import java.util.zip.ZipEntry;
-import java.util.zip.ZipOutputStream;
 
 import static org.springframework.data.mongodb.core.query.Query.query;
 
@@ -47,11 +49,20 @@ public class ExcelExportController extends GenericOCDSController {
     @Autowired
     private FileCleaningTracker fileCleaningTracker;
 
+    @Autowired
+    protected AdminSettingsRepository adminSettingsRepository;
+
     @ApiOperation(value = "Export releases in Excel format.")
     @RequestMapping(value = "/api/ocds/excelExport", method = {RequestMethod.GET, RequestMethod.POST})
     public void excelExport(@ModelAttribute @Valid final YearFilterPagingRequest filter,
                             final HttpServletResponse response) throws IOException {
 
+
+        Boolean disabledSecurity = SecurityUtil.getDisabledApiSecurity(adminSettingsRepository);
+        if (disabledSecurity) {
+            return;
+        }
+
         // set the default page size from admin settings
         filter.setPageSize(settingsUtils.getExcelBatchSize());
 
@@ -73,7 +84,7 @@ public void excelExport(@ModelAttribute @Valid final YearFilterPagingRequest fil
 
             ZipOutputStream zout = new ZipOutputStream(bos);
             zout.setMethod(ZipOutputStream.DEFLATED);
-            zout.setLevel(Deflater.BEST_COMPRESSION);
+            zout.setLevel(Deflater.BEST_SPEED);
 
             int numberOfPages = (int) Math.ceil((double) numberOfReleases / filter.getPageSize());
             for (int i = 0; i < numberOfPages; i++) {