diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/GapicSpannerRpc.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/GapicSpannerRpc.java
index ce4a110c55..6daee8fedf 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/GapicSpannerRpc.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/GapicSpannerRpc.java
@@ -93,7 +93,6 @@
 import com.google.spanner.admin.database.v1.DatabaseAdminGrpc;
 import com.google.spanner.admin.database.v1.DeleteBackupRequest;
 import com.google.spanner.admin.database.v1.DropDatabaseRequest;
-import com.google.spanner.admin.database.v1.EncryptionConfig;
 import com.google.spanner.admin.database.v1.GetBackupRequest;
 import com.google.spanner.admin.database.v1.GetDatabaseDdlRequest;
 import com.google.spanner.admin.database.v1.GetDatabaseRequest;
@@ -848,7 +847,7 @@ public OperationFuture<Database, CreateDatabaseMetadata> createDatabase(
             .addAllExtraStatements(additionalStatements)
             .setEncryptionConfig(
                 databaseInfo.getEncryptionConfigInfo() == null
-                    ? EncryptionConfig.getDefaultInstance()
+                    ? null
                     : databaseInfo.getEncryptionConfigInfo().toProto())
             .build();