diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/b2c/b2c.yml.jinja2.jinja2 b/.gitlab-ci/b2c/b2c.yml.jinja2.jinja2
index 2ac849a9d79..ae5059ba837 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/b2c/b2c.yml.jinja2.jinja2
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/b2c/b2c.yml.jinja2.jinja2
@@ -3,9 +3,8 @@ version: 1
 # Rules to match for a machine to qualify
 target:
 {% if tags %}
-{% set b2ctags = tags.split(',') %}
   tags:
-{% for tag in b2ctags %}
+{% for tag in tags %}
     - '{{ tag | trim }}'
 {% endfor %}
 {% endif %}
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/b2c/generate_b2c.py b/.gitlab-ci/b2c/generate_b2c.py
index a68b34a14bc..976c5b4e37c 100755
--- a/.gitlab-ci/b2c/generate_b2c.py
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/b2c/generate_b2c.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 from jinja2 import Environment, FileSystemLoader
 from argparse import ArgumentParser
 from os import environ, path
+import json
 
 
 parser = ArgumentParser()
@@ -69,7 +70,10 @@ values['log_level'] = args.log_level
 values['poweroff_delay'] = args.poweroff_delay
 values['session_end_regex'] = args.session_end_regex
 values['session_reboot_regex'] = args.session_reboot_regex
-values['tags'] = args.tags
+try:
+    values['tags'] = json.loads(args.tags)
+except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError:
+    values['tags'] = args.tags.split(",")
 values['template'] = args.template
 values['timeout_boot_minutes'] = args.timeout_boot_minutes
 values['timeout_boot_retries'] = args.timeout_boot_retries