diff --git a/internal/gatewayapi/listener.go b/internal/gatewayapi/listener.go
index a48cbcf6e7..4d6fe26680 100644
--- a/internal/gatewayapi/listener.go
+++ b/internal/gatewayapi/listener.go
@@ -590,11 +590,6 @@ func (t *Translator) processAccessLog(envoyproxy *egv1a1.EnvoyProxy, resources *
 					}
 					irAccessLog.Text = append(irAccessLog.Text, al)
 				case egv1a1.ProxyAccessLogFormatTypeJSON:
-					if len(format.JSON) == 0 {
-						// TODO: use a default JSON format if not specified?
-						continue
-					}
-
 					al := &ir.JSONAccessLog{
 						JSON:       format.JSON,
 						Path:       sink.File.Path,
diff --git a/internal/gatewayapi/testdata/envoyproxy-accesslog-file-json-no-format.out.yaml b/internal/gatewayapi/testdata/envoyproxy-accesslog-file-json-no-format.out.yaml
index 32bbeab062..54d161e1be 100644
--- a/internal/gatewayapi/testdata/envoyproxy-accesslog-file-json-no-format.out.yaml
+++ b/internal/gatewayapi/testdata/envoyproxy-accesslog-file-json-no-format.out.yaml
@@ -128,7 +128,9 @@ infraIR:
       namespace: envoy-gateway-system
 xdsIR:
   envoy-gateway/gateway-1:
-    accessLog: {}
+    accessLog:
+      json:
+      - path: /dev/stdout
     http:
     - address: 0.0.0.0
       hostnames:
diff --git a/internal/gatewayapi/testdata/envoyproxy-accesslog-without-format.out.yaml b/internal/gatewayapi/testdata/envoyproxy-accesslog-without-format.out.yaml
index d8a3d583c8..596392106b 100644
--- a/internal/gatewayapi/testdata/envoyproxy-accesslog-without-format.out.yaml
+++ b/internal/gatewayapi/testdata/envoyproxy-accesslog-without-format.out.yaml
@@ -203,6 +203,8 @@ xdsIR:
             protocol: GRPC
         name: envoy-gateway-system/test
         type: TCP
+      json:
+      - path: /dev/stdout
       openTelemetry:
       - authority: otel-collector.monitoring.svc.cluster.local
         destination:
diff --git a/release-notes/current.yaml b/release-notes/current.yaml
index 3974f82430..370871b3ca 100644
--- a/release-notes/current.yaml
+++ b/release-notes/current.yaml
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ bug fixes: |
   Fixed issue where EnvoyExtensionPolicy ExtProc body processing mode is set to FullDuplexStreamed, but trailers were not sent.
   Fixed validation issue where EnvoyExtensionPolicy ExtProc failOpen is true, and body processing mode FullDuplexStreamed is not rejected.
   Add ConfigMap indexers for EnvoyExtensionPolicies to reconcile Lua changes
+  Fixed issue that default accesslog format not working.
 
 
 # Enhancements that improve performance.