diff --git a/swh/deposit/api/common.py b/swh/deposit/api/common.py
--- a/swh/deposit/api/common.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/api/common.py
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@
 )
 from ..models import Deposit, DepositClient, DepositCollection, DepositRequest
 from ..parsers import parse_xml
+from .checks import check_metadata
+from .converters import convert_status_detail
 
 ACCEPT_PACKAGINGS = ["http://purl.org/net/sword/package/SimpleZip"]
 ACCEPT_ARCHIVE_CONTENT_TYPES = ["application/zip", "application/x-tar"]
@@ -653,12 +655,13 @@
                 "Please ensure your metadata file is correctly formatted.",
             )
 
-        if not metadata:
+        metadata_ok, error_details = check_metadata(metadata or {})
+        if not metadata_ok:
+            assert error_details, "Details should be set when a failure occurs"
             return make_error_dict(
                 BAD_REQUEST,
-                "Empty body request is not supported",
-                "Atom entry deposit is supposed to send for metadata. "
-                "If the body is empty, there is no metadata.",
+                "Functional metadata checks failure",
+                convert_status_detail(error_details),
             )
 
         external_id = headers["slug"]
diff --git a/swh/deposit/api/deposit_update.py b/swh/deposit/api/deposit_update.py
--- a/swh/deposit/api/deposit_update.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/api/deposit_update.py
@@ -221,15 +221,7 @@
                 "Please ensure your metadata file is correctly formatted.",
             )
 
-        if not metadata:
-            return make_error_dict(
-                BAD_REQUEST,
-                "Empty body request is not supported",
-                "Atom entry deposit is supposed to send for metadata. "
-                "If the body is empty, there is no metadata.",
-            )
-
-        metadata_ok, error_details = check_metadata(metadata)
+        metadata_ok, error_details = check_metadata(metadata or {})
         if not metadata_ok:
             assert error_details, "Details should be set when a failure occurs"
             return make_error_dict(
diff --git a/swh/deposit/tests/api/test_deposit_atom.py b/swh/deposit/tests/api/test_deposit_atom.py
--- a/swh/deposit/tests/api/test_deposit_atom.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/tests/api/test_deposit_atom.py
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
             HTTP_SLUG="external-id",
         )
         assert response.status_code == status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST
-        assert b"Empty body request is not supported" in response.content
+        assert b"Mandatory alternate fields are missing" in response.content
 
 
 def test_post_deposit_atom_400_badly_formatted_atom(
diff --git a/swh/deposit/tests/api/test_deposit_private_read_metadata.py b/swh/deposit/tests/api/test_deposit_private_read_metadata.py
--- a/swh/deposit/tests/api/test_deposit_private_read_metadata.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/tests/api/test_deposit_private_read_metadata.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
         HTTP_SLUG=deposit.external_id,
         HTTP_IN_PROGRESS=True,
     )
-    assert response.status_code == status.HTTP_201_CREATED
+    assert response.status_code == status.HTTP_201_CREATED, response.content
     return deposit
 
 
diff --git a/swh/deposit/tests/api/test_deposit_update.py b/swh/deposit/tests/api/test_deposit_update.py
--- a/swh/deposit/tests/api/test_deposit_update.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/tests/api/test_deposit_update.py
@@ -764,7 +764,7 @@
         )
 
         assert response.status_code == status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST
-        assert b"Empty body request is not supported" in response.content
+        assert b"Mandatory alternate fields are missing" in response.content
 
 
 def test_put_update_metadata_done_deposit_failure_functional_checks(
diff --git a/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/codemeta-sample.xml b/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/codemeta-sample.xml
--- a/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/codemeta-sample.xml
+++ b/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/codemeta-sample.xml
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
         <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
                xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
                xmlns:codemeta="https://doi.org/10.5063/SCHEMA/CODEMETA-2.0">
+            <name>The assignment problem</name>
+            <author>Gruenpeter, Morane</author>
             <dcterms:identifier>hal-01587361</dcterms:identifier>
             <dcterms:identifier>https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01587361</dcterms:identifier>
             <dcterms:identifier>https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01587361/document</dcterms:identifier>
diff --git a/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/entry-data-minimal.xml b/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/entry-data-minimal.xml
--- a/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/entry-data-minimal.xml
+++ b/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/entry-data-minimal.xml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 <?xml version="1.0"?>
 <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
     <title>Awesome Compiler</title>
+    <author>Awesome Coder</author>
 </entry>
diff --git a/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/entry-data2.xml b/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/entry-data2.xml
--- a/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/entry-data2.xml
+++ b/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/entry-data2.xml
@@ -2,4 +2,5 @@
 <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
   <url>https://hal-test.archives-ouvertes.fr/some-external-id</url>
   <author>some awesome author</author>
+  <title>Some Awesome Software</title>
 </entry>
diff --git a/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/entry-data3.xml b/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/entry-data3.xml
--- a/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/entry-data3.xml
+++ b/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/entry-data3.xml
@@ -3,4 +3,5 @@
   <author>another one</author>
   <author>no one</author>
   <codemeta:dateCreated>2017-10-07T15:17:08Z</codemeta:dateCreated>
+  <title>Software</title>
 </entry>
diff --git a/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/error-with-external-identifier.xml b/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/error-with-external-identifier.xml
--- a/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/error-with-external-identifier.xml
+++ b/swh/deposit/tests/data/atom/error-with-external-identifier.xml
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
 <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:codemeta="https://doi.org/10.5063/SCHEMA/CODEMETA-2.0">
   <title>Composing a Web of Audio Applications</title>
   <id>hal-01243065</id>
+  <author>Someone</author>
   <external_identifier>hal-01243065</external_identifier>
 </entry>