diff --git a/Wrapping/Python/vtkmodules/util/pickle_support.py b/Wrapping/Python/vtkmodules/util/pickle_support.py
index 6abb472778c722a64bccb3dde5d9429f2d4aa8c5..8fcbf2d958d939d99fa64890afde79a4e0d8d979 100644
--- a/Wrapping/Python/vtkmodules/util/pickle_support.py
+++ b/Wrapping/Python/vtkmodules/util/pickle_support.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ objects in the global dispatch table used by pickle. NumPy is required as well s
 try:
     import copyreg, pickle, numpy
 except ImportError:
-    raise RuntimeError("This module depends on the pickle, copyreg, and numpy modules.\
+    raise ImportError("This module depends on the pickle, copyreg, and numpy modules.\
  Please make sure that it is installed properly.")
 
 from ..vtkParallelCore import vtkCommunicator