diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 5c678c218599bb0f81d36f1d62ad2beb05150ba9..1052ddfb48e16559a78d3c00fff8f7006238bc05 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ checks:
     #  GitLab... so this is a workaround for extracting the hash
     - export CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_SHA=$(git ls-remote origin $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME | cut -d$'\t' -f1)
     - export FILES=$(git diff $CI_COMMIT_SHA $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_SHA --name-only | tr '\n' ' ')
-    - export LANG=C  # Hopefully detect anything relying on locale
     - python3 -m pip install ".[test,dev]"
     - echo "Running pre-commit on diff from $CI_COMMIT_SHA to $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_SHA ($CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME)"
     #  Pass list of modified files to pre-commit so that it only checks them
@@ -43,6 +42,7 @@ pytest:
   only: [merge_requests]
   <<: *before_script
   script:
+    - export LANG=C  # Hopefully detect anything relying on locale
     - python3 -m pip install ".[test]"
     - python3 -m pytest --color yes --verbose --cov=cal_tools --cov=xfel_calibrate
 #  Nope... https://docs.gitlab.com/12.10/ee/user/project/merge_requests/test_coverage_visualization.html#enabling-the-feature