diff --git a/dvc/cloud/gcp.py b/dvc/cloud/gcp.py
index 0969f1355..50f5e2aac 100644
--- a/dvc/cloud/gcp.py
+++ b/dvc/cloud/gcp.py
@@ -19,12 +19,6 @@ class DataCloudGCP(DataCloudBase):
         """
         return self._cloud_settings.cloud_config.get(Config.SECTION_GCP_PROJECTNAME, None)
 
-    def sanity_check(self):
-        project = self.gc_project_name
-        if project is None or len(project) < 1:
-            raise ConfigError('can\'t read google cloud project name. '
-                              'Please set \'{}\' in section GCP.'.format(Config.SECTION_GCP_PROJECTNAME))
-
     def connect(self):
         client = gc.Client(project=self.gc_project_name)
         self.bucket = client.bucket(self.storage_bucket)
diff --git a/dvc/config.py b/dvc/config.py
index ab8d6bd6b..c3401d9d6 100644
--- a/dvc/config.py
+++ b/dvc/config.py
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class Config(object):
     SECTION_GCP_PROJECTNAME = 'projectname'
     SECTION_GCP_SCHEMA = {
         SECTION_GCP_STORAGEPATH: str,
-        SECTION_GCP_PROJECTNAME: str,
+        schema.Optional(SECTION_GCP_PROJECTNAME): str,
     }
 
     # backward compatibility
diff --git a/tests/test_data_cloud.py b/tests/test_data_cloud.py
index d3f6ebf11..4df0cafe3 100644
--- a/tests/test_data_cloud.py
+++ b/tests/test_data_cloud.py
@@ -141,7 +141,6 @@ class TestDataCloudAWS(TestDataCloudBase):
 
 class TestDataCloudGCP(TestDataCloudBase):
     TEST_REPO_GCP_BUCKET = 'dvc-test'
-    TEST_REPO_GCP_PROJECT='dvc-project'
 
     def _should_test(self):
         if os.getenv("DVC_TEST_GCP") == "true":