diff --git a/core/Integer.cc b/core/Integer.cc
index 42e5eb984881eb91b3fdbd5a7a336036ecbd70f9..1301fae04ca553d91451ca17139327ac6cb97db3 100644
--- a/core/Integer.cc
+++ b/core/Integer.cc
@@ -1177,7 +1177,7 @@ int INTEGER::RAW_encode(const TTCN_Typedescriptor_t& p_td, RAW_enc_tree& myleaf)
   }
   else { // not IntX, use the field length
     length = (p_td.raw->fieldlength + 7) / 8;
-    if (min_bits(value, neg_sgbit) > p_td.raw->fieldlength) {
+    if (min_bits(value) > p_td.raw->fieldlength) {
       TTCN_EncDec_ErrorContext::error(TTCN_EncDec::ET_LEN_ERR,
         "There are insufficient bits to encode '%s' : ", p_td.name);
       value = 0; // substitute with zero
diff --git a/core/RAW.cc b/core/RAW.cc
index 80d2180840f63e04938ed312cefb86f8e016425e..3a220ae713f33bd64a6f7672b3c1c0d56d0d7cee 100644
--- a/core/RAW.cc
+++ b/core/RAW.cc
@@ -309,16 +309,13 @@ RAW_enc_tree* RAW_enc_tree::get_node(RAW_enc_tr_pos &req_pos)
  * @return the number of bits needed to represent the given integer
  * in sign+magnitude
  */
-int min_bits(int a, bool signbit)
+int min_bits(int a)
 {
-  if (a == INT_MIN) {
-    return sizeof(int) * 8 + signbit;
-  }
   register int bits = 0;
   register int tmp = a;
   if (a < 0) {
     bits = 1;
-    tmp = -a; // doesn't work on INT_MIN
+    tmp = -a;
   }
   while (tmp != 0) {
     bits++;
diff --git a/core/RAW.hh b/core/RAW.hh
index 6c32d68f7ce8388591584a5c814ed7ddbee7c6b9..410566776e8bb465ec9c55b9ef1943dccded4061 100644
--- a/core/RAW.hh
+++ b/core/RAW.hh
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ extern const unsigned char BitMaskTable[9];
 class RAW_enc_tree;
 struct TTCN_Typedescriptor_t;
 struct TTCN_TEXTdescriptor_t;
-int min_bits(int a, bool signbit);
+int min_bits(int a);
 int min_bits(BIGNUM *a);
 enum ext_bit_t{
   EXT_BIT_NO,      /**< No extension bit */