diff --git a/config/pmd.xml b/config/pmd.xml
index f0b439b9c..25a18dae7 100644
--- a/config/pmd.xml
+++ b/config/pmd.xml
@@ -121,7 +121,6 @@
     <exclude name="UncommentedEmptyMethod"/>
     <!-- till #996 -->
     <exclude name="PreserveStackTrace"/>
-    <exclude name="UseCollectionIsEmpty"/>
     <exclude name="EmptyMethodInAbstractClassShouldBeAbstract"/>
     <exclude name="SingularField"/>
     <exclude name="TooFewBranchesForASwitchStatement"/>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/VariableDeclarationUsageDistanceCheck.java b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/VariableDeclarationUsageDistanceCheck.java
index ba8480cc0..a60bafb9b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/VariableDeclarationUsageDistanceCheck.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/VariableDeclarationUsageDistanceCheck.java
@@ -487,7 +487,7 @@ public class VariableDeclarationUsageDistanceCheck extends Check
                     }
                     // If expression doesn't contain variable and this variable
                     // hasn't been met yet, than distance + 1.
-                    else if (variableUsageExpressions.size() == 0
+                    else if (variableUsageExpressions.isEmpty()
                             && currentStatementAst.getType() != TokenTypes.VARIABLE_DEF)
                     {
                         dist++;