diff --git a/enstools/encoding/variable_encoding.py b/enstools/encoding/variable_encoding.py
index 0389226062af418ad2c13b0caff4af679bdd4519..ec53fbf479708b5ffae9b396c6b0f87fe58b8e18 100644
--- a/enstools/encoding/variable_encoding.py
+++ b/enstools/encoding/variable_encoding.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class _Mapping(Mapping):
         return len(self._kwargs)
 
 
-class Encoding(ABC):
+class Encoding(_Mapping):
     def check_validity(self) -> bool:
         ...