diff --git a/android/androidmk.go b/android/androidmk.go
index 9853d2cbe..967c550d6 100644
--- a/android/androidmk.go
+++ b/android/androidmk.go
@@ -845,7 +845,7 @@ func translateAndroidModule(ctx SingletonContext, w io.Writer, mod blueprint.Mod
 		case "*selinux.selinuxContextsModule": // license properties written
 		case "*sysprop.syspropLibrary": // license properties written
 		default:
-			if ctx.Config().IsEnvTrue("ANDROID_REQUIRE_LICENSES") {
+			if !ctx.Config().IsEnvFalse("ANDROID_REQUIRE_LICENSES") {
 				return fmt.Errorf("custom make rules not allowed for %q (%q) module %q", ctx.ModuleType(mod), reflect.TypeOf(mod), ctx.ModuleName(mod))
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/android/licenses.go b/android/licenses.go
index d54f8f4d0..7ee78c716 100644
--- a/android/licenses.go
+++ b/android/licenses.go
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ func getLicenses(ctx BaseModuleContext, module Module) []string {
 
 	primaryProperty := module.base().primaryLicensesProperty
 	if primaryProperty == nil {
-		if ctx.Config().IsEnvTrue("ANDROID_REQUIRE_LICENSES") {
+		if !ctx.Config().IsEnvFalse("ANDROID_REQUIRE_LICENSES") {
 			ctx.ModuleErrorf("module type %q must have an applicable licenses property", ctx.OtherModuleType(module))
 		}
 		return nil