diff --git a/cve_bin_tool/cli.py b/cve_bin_tool/cli.py
index 91578d6bf0..84753d8db4 100644
--- a/cve_bin_tool/cli.py
+++ b/cve_bin_tool/cli.py
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@
     InsufficientArgs,
     InvalidExtensionError,
     MirrorError,
+    PDFOutputUnavailable,
     excepthook,
 )
 from cve_bin_tool.input_engine import InputEngine, TriageData
@@ -893,11 +894,14 @@ def main(argv=None):
 
     # Check for PDF support
     if "pdf" in output_formats and importlib.util.find_spec("reportlab") is None:
-        LOGGER.info("PDF output not available.")
-        LOGGER.info(
+        LOGGER.error("PDF output not available.")
+        LOGGER.error(
             "If you want to produce PDF output, please install reportlab using pip install reportlab"
         )
         output_formats.remove("pdf")
+        if len(output_formats) < 1:
+            # If there's no other formats selected, exit so people actually see the error
+            return ERROR_CODES[PDFOutputUnavailable]
 
     merged_reports = None
     if args["merge"]:
diff --git a/cve_bin_tool/error_handler.py b/cve_bin_tool/error_handler.py
index 904785d1d1..51727d0d90 100644
--- a/cve_bin_tool/error_handler.py
+++ b/cve_bin_tool/error_handler.py
@@ -145,6 +145,10 @@ class NetworkConnectionError(Exception):
     """Raised when issue occurred with internet connection"""
 
 
+class PDFOutputUnavailable(Exception):
+    """Raised when reportlab is not installed and PDF output is unavailable"""
+
+
 class ErrorMode(Enum):
     Ignore = 0
     NoTrace = 1
@@ -246,4 +250,5 @@ def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_val, exc_tb):
     InvalidExtensionError: 42,
     SigningError: 43,
     NetworkConnectionError: 44,
+    PDFOutputUnavailable: 45,
 }
diff --git a/test/test_cli.py b/test/test_cli.py
index b6d420a35d..a2ae5a67e6 100644
--- a/test/test_cli.py
+++ b/test/test_cli.py
@@ -706,7 +706,7 @@ def test_console_output_depending_reportlab_existence(self, caplog):
 
         assert (
             "cve_bin_tool",
-            logging.INFO,
+            logging.ERROR,
             not_installed_msg,
         ) in caplog.record_tuples