diff --git a/dmp-backend/core/src/main/java/eu/eudat/data/DescriptionTemplateEntity.java b/dmp-backend/core/src/main/java/eu/eudat/data/DescriptionTemplateEntity.java
index 0fd87a705..5f06d674b 100644
--- a/dmp-backend/core/src/main/java/eu/eudat/data/DescriptionTemplateEntity.java
+++ b/dmp-backend/core/src/main/java/eu/eudat/data/DescriptionTemplateEntity.java
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@ import eu.eudat.data.converters.enums.DescriptionTemplateStatusConverter;
 import eu.eudat.data.converters.enums.DescriptionTemplateVersionStatusConverter;
 import eu.eudat.data.converters.enums.IsActiveConverter;
 import eu.eudat.data.old.queryableentity.DataEntity;
+import eu.eudat.data.types.SQLXMLType;
 import jakarta.persistence.*;
+import org.hibernate.annotations.Type;
 
 import java.time.Instant;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -26,7 +28,8 @@ public class DescriptionTemplateEntity implements DataEntity<DescriptionTemplate
     public static final String _label = "label";
     public static final int _labelLength = 250;
 
-    @Column(name = "definition", nullable = false)
+    @Type(value = SQLXMLType.class)
+    @Column(name = "definition", nullable = false, columnDefinition = "xml")
     private String definition;
     public static final String _definition = "definition";
 
diff --git a/dmp-backend/core/src/main/java/eu/eudat/data/types/SQLXMLType.java b/dmp-backend/core/src/main/java/eu/eudat/data/types/SQLXMLType.java
index 6f46dcdfd..c997701de 100644
--- a/dmp-backend/core/src/main/java/eu/eudat/data/types/SQLXMLType.java
+++ b/dmp-backend/core/src/main/java/eu/eudat/data/types/SQLXMLType.java
@@ -1,2 +1,85 @@
-package eu.eudat.data.types;public class SQLXMLType {
-}
+package eu.eudat.data.types;
+
+import java.io.Serializable;
+import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
+import java.sql.ResultSet;
+import java.sql.SQLException;
+import java.sql.Types;
+import org.hibernate.HibernateException;
+import org.hibernate.engine.spi.SharedSessionContractImplementor;
+import org.hibernate.usertype.UserType;
+
+/**
+ * Store and retrieve a PostgreSQL "xml" column as a Java string.
+ * https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Hibernate_XML_Type
+ */
+public class SQLXMLType implements UserType<String> {
+
+	private final int[] sqlTypesSupported = new int[] { Types.VARCHAR };
+
+	@Override
+	public int getSqlType() {
+		return Types.VARCHAR;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public Class returnedClass() {
+		return String.class;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public boolean equals(String x, String y) throws HibernateException {
+		if (x == null) {
+			return y == null;
+		} else {
+			return x.equals(y);
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public int hashCode(String x) throws HibernateException {
+		return x == null ? null : x.hashCode();
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public String nullSafeGet(ResultSet rs, int i, SharedSessionContractImplementor sharedSessionContractImplementor, Object o) throws SQLException {
+		String xmldoc = rs.getString( i );
+		return rs.wasNull() ? null : xmldoc;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public void nullSafeSet(PreparedStatement st, String value, int index, SharedSessionContractImplementor sharedSessionContractImplementor) throws SQLException {
+		if (value == null) {
+			st.setNull(index, Types.OTHER);
+		} else {
+			st.setObject(index, value, Types.OTHER);
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public String deepCopy(String value) throws HibernateException {
+		if (value == null)
+			return null;
+		return new String( (String)value );
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public boolean isMutable() {
+		return false;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public Serializable disassemble(String value) throws HibernateException {
+		return (String) value;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public String assemble(Serializable cached, Object owner) throws HibernateException {
+		return (String) cached;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public String replace(String original, String target, Object owner) throws HibernateException {
+		return original;
+	}
+}
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