diff --git a/render/html_css.c b/render/html_css.c
index 3d9012ff3..89ab4477c 100644
--- a/render/html_css.c
+++ b/render/html_css.c
@@ -632,7 +632,9 @@ nserror html_css_init(void)
 {
 	nserror error;
 
-	html_css_fetcher_register();
+	error = html_css_fetcher_register();
+	if (error != NSERROR_OK)
+		return error;
 
 	error = nsurl_create("resource:default.css",
 			&html_default_stylesheet_url);
diff --git a/render/html_css_fetcher.c b/render/html_css_fetcher.c
index 3df1528af..8ac9123b0 100644
--- a/render/html_css_fetcher.c
+++ b/render/html_css_fetcher.c
@@ -274,7 +274,8 @@ static void html_css_fetcher_poll(lwc_string *scheme)
 	} while ( (c = next) != ring && ring != NULL);
 }
 
-void html_css_fetcher_register(void)
+/* exported interface documented in html_internal.h */
+nserror html_css_fetcher_register(void)
 {
 	lwc_string *scheme;
 	const struct fetcher_operation_table html_css_fetcher_ops = {
@@ -289,16 +290,17 @@ void html_css_fetcher_register(void)
 	};
 
 	if (lwc_intern_string("x-ns-css", SLEN("x-ns-css"),
-			&scheme) != lwc_error_ok) {
-		die("Failed to initialise the fetch module "
-				"(couldn't intern \"x-ns-css\").");
+			      &scheme) != lwc_error_ok) {
+		LOG(("could not intern \"x-ns-css\"."));
+		return NSERROR_INIT_FAILED;
 	}
 
-	fetcher_add(scheme, &html_css_fetcher_ops);
+	return fetcher_add(scheme, &html_css_fetcher_ops);
 }
 
-nserror html_css_fetcher_add_item(dom_string *data, nsurl *base_url,
-		uint32_t *key)
+/* exported interface documented in html_internal.h */
+nserror
+html_css_fetcher_add_item(dom_string *data, nsurl *base_url, uint32_t *key)
 {
 	html_css_fetcher_item *item = malloc(sizeof(*item));
 
diff --git a/render/html_internal.h b/render/html_internal.h
index 28522dc93..b57f240bd 100644
--- a/render/html_internal.h
+++ b/render/html_internal.h
@@ -293,7 +293,12 @@ nserror html_css_new_selection_context(html_content *c,
 		css_select_ctx **ret_select_ctx);
 
 /* in render/html_css_fetcher.c */
-void html_css_fetcher_register(void);
+/**
+ * Register the fetcher for the pseudo x-ns-css scheme.
+ *
+ * \return NSERROR_OK on successful registration or error code on failure.
+ */
+nserror html_css_fetcher_register(void);
 nserror html_css_fetcher_add_item(dom_string *data, nsurl *base_url,
 		uint32_t *key);