diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 30f1fedc..fbe0b622 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -17,8 +17,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning][semver].
 
 
 ### Fixed
+- Update handler fix: return an empty list of targets if the targets folder does not exist ([208])
 - pytest works when taf installed via wheel ([200])
 
+[208]: https://github.com/openlawlibrary/taf/pull/208
 [207]: https://github.com/openlawlibrary/taf/pull/207
 [200]: https://github.com/openlawlibrary/taf/pull/200
 
diff --git a/taf/updater/handlers.py b/taf/updater/handlers.py
index 6adef794..707df086 100644
--- a/taf/updater/handlers.py
+++ b/taf/updater/handlers.py
@@ -285,9 +285,12 @@ def ensure_not_changed(self, metadata_filename):
             )
 
     def get_current_targets(self):
-        return self.validation_auth_repo.list_files_at_revision(
-            self.current_commit, "targets"
-        )
+        try:
+            return self.validation_auth_repo.list_files_at_revision(
+                self.current_commit, "targets"
+            )
+        except GitError:
+            return []
 
     def get_mirrors(self, _file_type, _file_path):
         # pylint: disable=unused-argument