diff --git a/Source/cmExportCommand.cxx b/Source/cmExportCommand.cxx
index 86ddc3f44..3f6bc2e3d 100644
--- a/Source/cmExportCommand.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmExportCommand.cxx
@@ -135,6 +135,14 @@ bool cmExportCommand
         return false;
         }
       }
+    else
+      {
+      cmOStringStream e;
+      e << "given target \"" << *currentTarget
+        << "\" which is not built by this project.";
+      this->SetError(e.str().c_str());
+      return false;
+      }
     }
 
   cmGlobalGenerator *gg = this->Makefile->GetLocalGenerator()
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/CMakeLists.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/CMakeLists.txt
index 209b0b3b3..407f9655c 100644
--- a/Tests/RunCMake/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ add_RunCMake_test(Syntax)
 
 add_RunCMake_test(add_dependencies)
 add_RunCMake_test(build_command)
+add_RunCMake_test(export)
 add_RunCMake_test(cmake_minimum_required)
 add_RunCMake_test(find_package)
 add_RunCMake_test(get_filename_component)
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/export/CMakeLists.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/export/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..be9d4038d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/export/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8.4)
+project(${RunCMake_TEST})
+include(${RunCMake_TEST}.cmake)
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/export/RunCMakeTest.cmake b/Tests/RunCMake/export/RunCMakeTest.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b8d3f275f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/export/RunCMakeTest.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+include(RunCMake)
+
+run_cmake(TargetNotFound)
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/export/TargetNotFound-result.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/export/TargetNotFound-result.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d00491fd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/export/TargetNotFound-result.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+1
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/export/TargetNotFound-stderr.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/export/TargetNotFound-stderr.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..944a68e0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/export/TargetNotFound-stderr.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+CMake Error at TargetNotFound.cmake:1 \(export\):
+  export given target "nonexistenttarget" which is not built by this project.
+Call Stack \(most recent call first\):
+  CMakeLists.txt:3 \(include\)
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/export/TargetNotFound.cmake b/Tests/RunCMake/export/TargetNotFound.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a7c398daf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/export/TargetNotFound.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+export(TARGETS nonexistenttarget FILE somefile.cmake)