diff --git a/t4_devkit/sanity/reference/base.py b/t4_devkit/sanity/reference/base.py
index 28370f6..458d729 100644
--- a/t4_devkit/sanity/reference/base.py
+++ b/t4_devkit/sanity/reference/base.py
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ def check(self, context: SanityContext) -> list[Reason] | None:
             )
             for record in source_records
             if record[self.reference] not in target_tokens
+            and record[self.reference] != ""  # NOTE: success if the reference token is ""
             and self.is_additional_condition_ok(record)
         ] or None