diff --git a/tmpl/99-additional_repositories b/tmpl/99-additional_repositories
index 0ed2cee..529c95b 100644
--- a/tmpl/99-additional_repositories
+++ b/tmpl/99-additional_repositories
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
  %if %%str(%%priority_settings) in %%repositories_detail
 %silent %%repositories_detail[%%str(%%priority_settings)]['priority'] = %%priority_settings.additional_repository_global_priority
   %if %%priority_settings.additional_repository_exempted_packages
-%silent %%repositories_detail[%%str(%%priority_settings)]['exceptions'] = %%str.split(%%priority_settings.additional_repository_exempted_packages)
+%silent %%repositories_detail[%%str(%%priority_settings)]['exceptions'] = %%unicode.split(%%priority_settings.additional_repository_exempted_packages)
   %end if
  %end if
 %end for