diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 0281aeeb..04cae833 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ python_requires = >=3.6
 install_requires =
   coloredlogs; sys_platform == 'win32'
   distlib
-  EmPy
+  EmPy<4
   importlib-metadata; python_version < "3.8"
   packaging
   # the pytest dependency and its extensions are provided for convenience
diff --git a/stdeb.cfg b/stdeb.cfg
index 9c4793cd..08bafc8e 100644
--- a/stdeb.cfg
+++ b/stdeb.cfg
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [colcon-core]
 No-Python2:
-Depends3: python3-distlib, python3-empy, python3-packaging, python3-pytest, python3-setuptools, python3 (>= 3.8) | python3-importlib-metadata
+Depends3: python3-distlib, python3-empy (<4), python3-packaging, python3-pytest, python3-setuptools, python3 (>= 3.8) | python3-importlib-metadata
 Recommends3: python3-pytest-cov
 Suggests3: python3-pytest-repeat, python3-pytest-rerunfailures
 Suite: focal jammy bullseye bookworm