diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/transform/DelimitedLineTokenizer.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/transform/DelimitedLineTokenizer.java
index 62e32c23c..0581baf8b 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/transform/DelimitedLineTokenizer.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/transform/DelimitedLineTokenizer.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.InitializingBean;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 
@@ -33,7 +34,8 @@ import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
  * @author Dave Syer
  * @author Michael Minella
  */
-public class DelimitedLineTokenizer extends AbstractLineTokenizer {
+public class DelimitedLineTokenizer extends AbstractLineTokenizer 
+	implements InitializingBean {
 	/**
 	 * Convenient constant for the common case of a tab delimiter.
 	 */
@@ -76,6 +78,7 @@ public class DelimitedLineTokenizer extends AbstractLineTokenizer {
 	 * @param delimiter the desired delimiter
 	 */
 	public DelimitedLineTokenizer(String delimiter) {
+		Assert.notNull(delimiter);
 		Assert.state(!delimiter.equals(String.valueOf(DEFAULT_QUOTE_CHARACTER)), "[" + DEFAULT_QUOTE_CHARACTER
 				+ "] is not allowed as delimiter for tokenizers.");
 
@@ -256,4 +259,9 @@ public class DelimitedLineTokenizer extends AbstractLineTokenizer {
 	protected boolean isQuoteCharacter(char c) {
 		return c == quoteCharacter;
 	}
+
+	@Override
+	public void afterPropertiesSet() throws Exception {
+		Assert.state(null != delimiter && 0 != delimiter.length());		
+	}
 }
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/transform/DelimitedLineTokenizerTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/transform/DelimitedLineTokenizerTests.java
index 110dc8cb9..bb9f2aa76 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/transform/DelimitedLineTokenizerTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/transform/DelimitedLineTokenizerTests.java
@@ -130,7 +130,20 @@ public class DelimitedLineTokenizerTests {
 		FieldSet line = tokenizer.tokenize("a b c");
 		assertEquals(3, line.getFieldCount());
 	}
-
+	
+	@Test(expected=IllegalArgumentException.class)
+	public void testDelimitedLineTokenizerNullDelimiter() {
+		AbstractLineTokenizer tokenizer = new DelimitedLineTokenizer(null);
+		tokenizer.tokenize("a b c");
+	}
+	
+	@Test(expected=IllegalStateException.class)
+	public void testDelimitedLineTokenizerEmptyString() throws Exception {
+		DelimitedLineTokenizer tokenizer = new DelimitedLineTokenizer("");
+		tokenizer.afterPropertiesSet();
+		tokenizer.tokenize("a b c");
+	}
+	
 	@Test
 	public void testDelimitedLineTokenizerString() {
 		AbstractLineTokenizer tokenizer = new DelimitedLineTokenizer(" b ");