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
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
     METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED,
     NOT_FOUND,
     PARSING_ERROR,
-    BadRequestError,
+    DepositError,
     ParserError,
     make_error_dict,
     make_error_response,
@@ -652,7 +652,7 @@
               update scenario provides one)
 
         Raises:
-            BadRequestError in case of incorrect inputs from the deposit client
+            DepositError in case of incorrect inputs from the deposit client
             (e.g. functionally invalid metadata, ...)
 
         Returns:
@@ -662,7 +662,8 @@
         metadata_ok, error_details = check_metadata(metadata)
         if not metadata_ok:
             assert error_details, "Details should be set when a failure occurs"
-            raise BadRequestError(
+            raise DepositError(
+                BAD_REQUEST,
                 "Functional metadata checks failure",
                 convert_status_detail(error_details),
             )
@@ -806,8 +807,8 @@
                 swhid, swhid_ref, depo, depo_request = self._store_metadata_deposit(
                     deposit, swhid, metadata, raw_metadata
                 )
-            except BadRequestError as bad_request_error:
-                return bad_request_error.to_dict()
+            except DepositError as deposit_error:
+                return deposit_error.to_dict()
 
             deposit.status = DEPOSIT_STATUS_LOAD_SUCCESS
             if isinstance(swhid_ref, SWHID):
diff --git a/swh/deposit/api/edit.py b/swh/deposit/api/edit.py
--- a/swh/deposit/api/edit.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/api/edit.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 from swh.model.identifiers import parse_swhid
 
 from ..config import DEPOSIT_STATUS_LOAD_SUCCESS
-from ..errors import BAD_REQUEST, BadRequestError, ParserError, make_error_dict
+from ..errors import BAD_REQUEST, DepositError, ParserError, make_error_dict
 from ..parsers import SWHAtomEntryParser, SWHMultiPartParser
 from .common import APIDelete, APIPut, ParsedRequestHeaders
 
@@ -133,8 +133,8 @@
             _, _, deposit, deposit_request = self._store_metadata_deposit(
                 deposit, parse_swhid(swhid), metadata, raw_metadata, deposit.origin_url,
             )
-        except BadRequestError as bad_request_error:
-            return bad_request_error.to_dict()
+        except DepositError as deposit_error:
+            return deposit_error.to_dict()
 
         return {
             "deposit_id": deposit.id,
diff --git a/swh/deposit/errors.py b/swh/deposit/errors.py
--- a/swh/deposit/errors.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/errors.py
@@ -166,13 +166,13 @@
     )
 
 
-class BadRequestError(ValueError):
-    """Represents a bad input from the deposit client
+class DepositError(ValueError):
+    """Represents an error that should be reported to the client
 
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, summary, verbose_description):
-        self.key = BAD_REQUEST
+    def __init__(self, key, summary, verbose_description):
+        self.key = key
         self.summary = summary
         self.verbose_description = verbose_description