diff --git a/rater/actions_test.go b/rater/actions_test.go
index 7193faa1d..2ae7f1dad 100644
--- a/rater/actions_test.go
+++ b/rater/actions_test.go
@@ -689,12 +689,6 @@ func TestActionResetCounterCREDIT(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestUUID(t *testing.T) {
-	uuid := GenUUID()
-	if len(uuid) == 0 {
-		t.Fatalf("GenUUID error %s", uuid)
-	}
-}
 
 func TestActionTriggerLogging(t *testing.T) {
 	at := &ActionTrigger{
diff --git a/rater/loader_csv.go b/rater/loader_csv.go
index 785ef7927..2e10ff746 100644
--- a/rater/loader_csv.go
+++ b/rater/loader_csv.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
+	"github.com/cgrates/cgrates/utils"
 )
 
 type CSVReader struct {
@@ -375,7 +376,7 @@ func (csvr *CSVReader) LoadActions() (err error) {
 				return errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("Could not parse action weight: %v", err))
 			}
 			a = &Action{
-				Id:         GenUUID(),
+				Id:         utils.GenUUID(),
 				ActionType: record[1],
 				BalanceId:  record[2],
 				Direction:  record[3],
@@ -424,7 +425,7 @@ func (csvr *CSVReader) LoadActionTimings() (err error) {
 		}
 		for _, t := range ts {
 			at := &ActionTiming{
-				Id:     GenUUID(),
+				Id:     utils.GenUUID(),
 				Tag:    record[2],
 				Weight: weight,
 				Timing: &Interval{
@@ -466,7 +467,7 @@ func (csvr *CSVReader) LoadActionTriggers() (err error) {
 			return errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("Could not parse action trigger weight: %v", err))
 		}
 		at := &ActionTrigger{
-			Id:             GenUUID(),
+			Id:             utils.GenUUID(),
 			BalanceId:      record[1],
 			Direction:      record[2],
 			ThresholdValue: value,
diff --git a/rater/loader_db.go b/rater/loader_db.go
index 99b584e8a..54e51a495 100644
--- a/rater/loader_db.go
+++ b/rater/loader_db.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"time"
+	"github.com/cgrates/cgrates/utils"
 )
 
 type DbReader struct {
@@ -216,7 +217,7 @@ func (dbr *DbReader) LoadActionTimings() (err error) {
 			}
 			for _, t := range ts {
 				actTmg := &ActionTiming{
-					Id:     GenUUID(),
+					Id:     utils.GenUUID(),
 					Tag:    at.Tag,
 					Weight: at.Weight,
 					Timing: &Interval{
diff --git a/rater/storage_mysql.go b/rater/storage_mysql.go
index e16f567e0..93e378b30 100644
--- a/rater/storage_mysql.go
+++ b/rater/storage_mysql.go
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ func (mys *MySQLStorage) GetAllActionTimings(tpid string) (ats map[string][]*Act
 		}
 
 		at := &ActionTiming{
-			Id:        GenUUID(),
+			Id:        utils.GenUUID(),
 			Tag:       timings_tag,
 			Weight:    weight,
 			ActionsId: actions_tag,
@@ -348,7 +348,7 @@ func (mys *MySQLStorage) GetAllActions(tpid string) (map[string][]*Action, error
 				price = rate
 			}
 			a = &Action{
-				Id:         GenUUID(),
+				Id:         utils.GenUUID(),
 				ActionType: action,
 				BalanceId:  balances_tag,
 				Direction:  direction,
@@ -381,7 +381,7 @@ func (mys *MySQLStorage) GetAllActionTriggers(tpid string) (map[string][]*Action
 		}
 
 		at := &ActionTrigger{
-			Id:             GenUUID(),
+			Id:             utils.GenUUID(),
 			BalanceId:      balances_tag,
 			Direction:      direction,
 			ThresholdValue: threshold,
diff --git a/rater/storage_postgres.go b/rater/storage_postgres.go
index 49c43b995..554ed2c2f 100644
--- a/rater/storage_postgres.go
+++ b/rater/storage_postgres.go
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ func (psl *PostgresStorage) GetAllActions(tpid string) (map[string][]*Action, er
 				price = rate
 			}
 			a = &Action{
-				Id:         GenUUID(),
+				Id:         utils.GenUUID(),
 				ActionType: action,
 				BalanceId:  balances_tag,
 				Direction:  direction,
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ func (psl *PostgresStorage) GetAllActionTriggers(tpid string) (map[string][]*Act
 		}
 
 		at := &ActionTrigger{
-			Id:             GenUUID(),
+			Id:             utils.GenUUID(),
 			BalanceId:      balances_tag,
 			Direction:      direction,
 			ThresholdValue: threshold,
diff --git a/utils/coreutils.go b/utils/coreutils.go
index a6f36b5a8..3e7d5f8d3 100644
--- a/utils/coreutils.go
+++ b/utils/coreutils.go
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"crypto/rand"
+	"strconv"
+	"time"
 )
 
 // Returns first non empty string out of vals. Useful to extract defaults
@@ -43,18 +45,21 @@ func FSCgrId(uuid string) string {
 
 func NewTPid() string {
 	hasher := sha1.New()
-	uuid,_ := GenUUID()
+	uuid := GenUUID()
 	hasher.Write([]byte(uuid))
 	return fmt.Sprintf("%x", hasher.Sum(nil))
 }
 
-func GenUUID() (string, error) {
+// helper function for uuid generation
+func GenUUID() string {
 	uuid := make([]byte, 16)
 	n, err := rand.Read(uuid)
 	if n != len(uuid) || err != nil {
-		return "", err
+		return strconv.FormatInt(time.Now().UnixNano(), 10)
 	}
-	uuid[8] = 0x80
-	uuid[4] = 0x40
-	return hex.EncodeToString(uuid), nil
+	// TODO: verify the two lines implement RFC 4122 correctly
+	uuid[8] = 0x80 // variant bits see page 5
+	uuid[4] = 0x40 // version 4 Pseudo Random, see page 7
+
+	return hex.EncodeToString(uuid)
 }
diff --git a/utils/utils_test.go b/utils/utils_test.go
index b7fc82cda..e1518d52c 100644
--- a/utils/utils_test.go
+++ b/utils/utils_test.go
@@ -32,3 +32,10 @@ func TestFirstNonEmpty(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Error("Wrong elemnt returned: ", winnerElmnt)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestUUID(t *testing.T) {
+        uuid := GenUUID()
+        if len(uuid) == 0 {
+                t.Fatalf("GenUUID error %s", uuid)
+        }
+}