diff --git a/src/common/tags.c b/src/common/tags.c
index fe36116ad43d..7cc4da773131 100644
--- a/src/common/tags.c
+++ b/src/common/tags.c
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
     This file is part of darktable,
-    Copyright (C) 2010-2024 darktable developers.
+    Copyright (C) 2010-2026 darktable developers.
 
     darktable is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
     it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
     along with darktable.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
 #include "common/tags.h"
-#include "common/collection.h"
 #include "common/darktable.h"
 #include "common/debug.h"
 #include "common/grouping.h"
@@ -1009,6 +1008,40 @@ static gint _is_not_exportable_tag(gconstpointer a, gconstpointer b)
           ((ta->flags) & (DT_TF_CATEGORY | DT_TF_PRIVATE))) ? 0 : -1;
 }
 
+static gboolean _check_private_recursive(dt_tag_t *t)
+{
+  // travel up the tag hierarchy and check if we have a private category.
+  // if so, all tags within that category are treated as private.
+
+  if(t->flags & DT_TF_PRIVATE)
+    return TRUE;
+
+  gchar *tag = g_strdup(t->tag);
+  gboolean is_private = FALSE;
+
+  while(*tag && !is_private)
+  {
+    gchar *end = g_strrstr(tag, "|");
+    end = end? end : tag;
+    *end = '\0';
+
+    if(*tag)
+    {
+      // now we have the parent leave. Check if this is a private category
+      uint32_t tagid = dt_tag_get_tag_id_by_name(tag);
+      if(tagid != 0)
+      {
+        gint flags = dt_tag_get_flags(tagid);
+        is_private = flags & (DT_TF_CATEGORY | DT_TF_PRIVATE);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  g_free(tag);
+
+  return is_private;
+}
+
 GList *dt_tag_get_list_export(const dt_imgid_t imgid,
                               const int32_t flags)
 {
@@ -1038,7 +1071,7 @@ GList *dt_tag_get_list_export(const dt_imgid_t imgid,
   for(; sorted_tags; sorted_tags = g_list_next(sorted_tags))
   {
     dt_tag_t *t = sorted_tags->data;
-    if((export_private_tags || !(t->flags & DT_TF_PRIVATE))
+    if((export_private_tags || !(_check_private_recursive(t)))
         && !(t->flags & DT_TF_CATEGORY))
     {
       gchar *tagname = t->leave;
@@ -1107,7 +1140,7 @@ GList *dt_tag_get_hierarchical_export(const dt_imgid_t imgid,
   for(GList *tag_iter = taglist; tag_iter; tag_iter = g_list_next(tag_iter))
   {
     dt_tag_t *t = tag_iter->data;
-    if(export_private_tags || !(t->flags & DT_TF_PRIVATE))
+    if(export_private_tags || !_check_private_recursive(t))
     {
       tags = g_list_prepend(tags, g_strdup(t->tag));
     }