2 files changed, 13 insertions, 5 deletions
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Docx.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Docx.hs
index 1fac98b14..651d46753 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Docx.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Docx.hs
@@ -534,7 +534,10 @@ bodyPartToBlocks (Paragraph pPr parparts)
       then do modify $ \s -> s { docxDropCap = ils' }
               return mempty
       else do modify $ \s -> s { docxDropCap = mempty }
-              return $ parStyleToTransform pPr $ para ils'
+              opts <- asks docxOptions
+              if isNull ils' && not (isEnabled Ext_empty_paragraphs opts)
+                 then return mempty
+                 else return $ parStyleToTransform pPr $ para ils'
 bodyPartToBlocks (ListItem pPr numId lvl (Just levelInfo) parparts) = do
   let
     kvs = case levelInfo of
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/HTML.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/HTML.hs
index 24935fcd7..b0f5d38f9 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/HTML.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/HTML.hs
@@ -68,9 +68,11 @@ import Text.Pandoc.CSS (foldOrElse, pickStyleAttrProps)
 import Text.Pandoc.Definition
 import Text.Pandoc.Error
 import Text.Pandoc.Logging
-import Text.Pandoc.Options (Extension (Ext_epub_html_exts, Ext_native_divs, Ext_native_spans, Ext_raw_html),
-                            ReaderOptions (readerExtensions, readerStripComments),
-                            extensionEnabled)
+import Text.Pandoc.Options (
+    Extension (Ext_epub_html_exts, Ext_empty_paragraphs, Ext_native_divs,
+               Ext_native_spans, Ext_raw_html),
+    ReaderOptions (readerExtensions, readerStripComments),
+    extensionEnabled)
 import Text.Pandoc.Parsing hiding ((<|>))
 import Text.Pandoc.Shared (addMetaField, crFilter, escapeURI, extractSpaces,
                            safeRead, underlineSpan)
@@ -575,7 +577,10 @@ pPlain = do
 pPara :: PandocMonad m => TagParser m Blocks
 pPara = do
   contents <- trimInlines <$> pInTags "p" inline
-  return $ B.para contents
+  (do guardDisabled Ext_empty_paragraphs
+      guard (B.isNull contents)
+      return mempty)
+    <|> return (B.para contents)
 
 pFigure :: PandocMonad m => TagParser m Blocks
 pFigure = try $ do