diff --git a/tools/itscertgen/generator/certgen.c b/tools/itscertgen/generator/certgen.c
index 5fb64875076d45864354170fad01d95f86f6ed52..89a0678891b48f27278011efb8a001f91f0efa25 100644
--- a/tools/itscertgen/generator/certgen.c
+++ b/tools/itscertgen/generator/certgen.c
@@ -1466,7 +1466,18 @@ static int region_id_tag (cxml_handler_t* const _h, cxml_tag_t * const tag)
 			fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: Region identifier must be set\n");
 			return -1;
 		}
-		while(cisspace(*v))v++;
+
+		while (cisspace(*v))v++;
+		if (!cisdigit(*v)){
+			// look in the macro map
+			const char * v1 = macro_lookup(v);
+			if (!v1){
+				fprintf(stderr, "%s: Invalid region identifier\n", v);
+				return -1;
+			}
+			while (cisspace(*v1))v1++;
+			v = v1;
+		}
 		uvalue = strtoul(v, NULL, 0);
 		if(uvalue > 0xFFFF){
 			fprintf(stderr, "%s: Invalid region identifier\n", v);