diff --git a/src/Buffer.cpp b/src/Buffer.cpp
index b5dc10bd56..ae6d82e94b 100644
--- a/src/Buffer.cpp
+++ b/src/Buffer.cpp
@@ -3144,7 +3144,8 @@ static void setLabel(Buffer const & buf, ParIterator & it)
 	// Compute the item depth of the paragraph
 	par.itemdepth = getItemDepth(it);
 
-	if (layout.margintype == MARGIN_MANUAL) {
+	if (layout.margintype == MARGIN_MANUAL
+	    || layout.latextype == LATEX_BIB_ENVIRONMENT) {
 		if (par.params().labelWidthString().empty())
 			par.params().labelWidthString(par.translateIfPossible(layout.labelstring(), bp));
 	} else {
diff --git a/src/Paragraph.cpp b/src/Paragraph.cpp
index 87c878b192..37d2957f8d 100644
--- a/src/Paragraph.cpp
+++ b/src/Paragraph.cpp
@@ -1589,7 +1589,8 @@ docstring const & Paragraph::labelString() const
 // the next two functions are for the manual labels
 docstring const Paragraph::getLabelWidthString() const
 {
-	if (d->layout_->margintype == MARGIN_MANUAL)
+	if (d->layout_->margintype == MARGIN_MANUAL
+	    || d->layout_->latextype == LATEX_BIB_ENVIRONMENT)
 		return d->params_.labelWidthString();
 	else
 		return _("Senseless with this layout!");
diff --git a/src/output_latex.cpp b/src/output_latex.cpp
index 534bf48be4..4736530e83 100644
--- a/src/output_latex.cpp
+++ b/src/output_latex.cpp
@@ -169,8 +169,12 @@ TeXEnvironment(Buffer const & buf,
 			   << pit->params().labelWidthString()
 			   << "}\n";
 		} else if (style.labeltype == LABEL_BIBLIO) {
-			// ale970405
-			os << '{' << bibitemWidest(buf) << "}\n";
+			if (pit->params().labelWidthString().empty())
+				os << '{' << bibitemWidest(buf) << "}\n";
+			else
+				os << '{'
+				  << pit->params().labelWidthString()
+				  << "}\n";
 		} else
 			os << from_ascii(style.latexparam()) << '\n';
 		texrow.newline();