diff --git a/relate/utils.py b/relate/utils.py
index 8eae8526d..3dc240e5e 100644
--- a/relate/utils.py
+++ b/relate/utils.py
@@ -224,12 +224,11 @@ def format_datetime_local(datetime, format='DATETIME_FORMAT'):
     """
 
     from django.utils import formats
-    from django.utils.dateformat import format as dformat
-
     try:
         return formats.date_format(datetime, format)
     except AttributeError:
         try:
+            from django.utils.dateformat import format as dformat
             return dformat(datetime, format)
         except AttributeError:
             return formats.date_format(datetime, "DATETIME_FORMAT")
diff --git a/tests/test_misc.py b/tests/test_misc.py
index 0f0f06af7..137fab753 100644
--- a/tests/test_misc.py
+++ b/tests/test_misc.py
@@ -30,13 +30,16 @@
 import datetime
 from django.test import TestCase, RequestFactory
 from django.test.utils import override_settings
+from django.utils.formats import date_format, get_format
+from django.utils.dateformat import format
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
 
 from course.models import Course
 from course.views import EditCourseForm
 from course.versioning import CourseCreationForm
 from relate.utils import (
-    is_maintenance_mode, render_email_template, get_outbound_mail_connection)
+    is_maintenance_mode, render_email_template, get_outbound_mail_connection,
+    format_datetime_local)
 
 from tests.base_test_mixins import SingleCourseTestMixin
 from tests.utils import LocmemBackendTestsMixin, mail, mock
@@ -522,4 +525,57 @@ def test_label_is_none(self):
             get_outbound_mail_connection(None), BaseEmailBackend)
 
 
+# {{{ test relate.utils.format_datetime_local
+
+def date_format_side_effect(value, format=None, use_l10n=None):
+    """mock django.utils.formats.date_format"""
+    if format == "foo":
+        raise AttributeError
+    else:
+        return date_format(value, format, use_l10n)
+
+
+def format_side_effectformat(value, format_string):
+    """mock django.utils.dateformat.format"""
+    if format_string == "foo":
+        raise AttributeError
+    else:
+        return format(value, format_string)
+
+
+class FormatDatetimeLocalTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    """test relate.utils.format_datetime_local"""
+
+    def test_success(self):
+        dtime = datetime.datetime(2019, 1, 1)
+        format_str = "SHORT_DATETIME_FORMAT"
+        self.assertEqual(
+            format_datetime_local(dtime, format=format_str),
+            date_format(dtime, format=format_str))
+
+    def test_attribute_error1(self):
+        dtime = datetime.datetime(2019, 1, 1)
+        with mock.patch("django.utils.formats.date_format") as mock_date_format:
+            mock_date_format.side_effect = date_format_side_effect
+            result = format_datetime_local(
+                dtime, format="foo")
+        self.assertEqual(
+            result, date_format(dtime, format="foo"))
+
+    def test_attribute_error2(self):
+        dtime = datetime.datetime(2019, 1, 1)
+        with mock.patch(
+                "django.utils.formats.date_format"
+        ) as mock_date_format, mock.patch(
+            "django.utils.dateformat.format"
+        ) as mock_format:
+            mock_date_format.side_effect = date_format_side_effect
+            mock_format.side_effect = format_side_effectformat
+            result = format_datetime_local(
+                dtime, format="foo")
+        self.assertEqual(
+            result, date_format(dtime, format=get_format("DATETIME_FORMAT")))
+
+# }}}
+
 # vim: foldmethod=marker