diff --git a/dvc/utils/compat.py b/dvc/utils/compat.py
index 0ad308c37..911664f07 100644
--- a/dvc/utils/compat.py
+++ b/dvc/utils/compat.py
@@ -18,11 +18,10 @@ is_py3 = _ver[0] == 3
 # simplified version of ipython_genutils/encoding.py
 DEFAULT_ENCODING = sys.getdefaultencoding()
 
-# https://docs.python.org/3/library/exceptions.html#RecursionError
-try:
-    RecursionError
-except NameError:  # _ver[:2] < (3, 5)
+if _ver[:2] < (3, 5):
     RecursionError = RuntimeError
+else:
+    RecursionError = RecursionError
 
 
 def no_code(x, encoding=None):