diff --git a/exporters/zipkin/src/recordable.cc b/exporters/zipkin/src/recordable.cc
index d098ddea3b..327fc317ca 100644
--- a/exporters/zipkin/src/recordable.cc
+++ b/exporters/zipkin/src/recordable.cc
@@ -35,11 +35,15 @@ void Recordable::SetIdentity(const opentelemetry::trace::SpanContext &span_conte
   span_context.trace_id().ToLowerBase16(trace_id_lower_base16);
   char span_id_lower_base16[trace::SpanId::kSize * 2] = {0};
   span_context.span_id().ToLowerBase16(span_id_lower_base16);
-  char parent_span_id_lower_base16[trace::SpanId::kSize * 2] = {0};
-  parent_span_id.ToLowerBase16(parent_span_id_lower_base16);
-  span_["id"]       = std::string(span_id_lower_base16, 16);
-  span_["parentId"] = std::string(parent_span_id_lower_base16, 16);
-  span_["traceId"]  = std::string(trace_id_lower_base16, 32);
+  if (parent_span_id.IsValid())
+  {
+    char parent_span_id_lower_base16[trace::SpanId::kSize * 2] = {0};
+    parent_span_id.ToLowerBase16(parent_span_id_lower_base16);
+    span_["parentId"] = std::string(parent_span_id_lower_base16, 16);
+  }
+
+  span_["id"]      = std::string(span_id_lower_base16, 16);
+  span_["traceId"] = std::string(trace_id_lower_base16, 32);
 }
 
 void PopulateAttribute(nlohmann::json &attribute,
diff --git a/exporters/zipkin/test/zipkin_recordable_test.cc b/exporters/zipkin/test/zipkin_recordable_test.cc
index f16ac2ab7e..dd66a058eb 100644
--- a/exporters/zipkin/test/zipkin_recordable_test.cc
+++ b/exporters/zipkin/test/zipkin_recordable_test.cc
@@ -43,6 +43,29 @@ TEST(ZipkinSpanRecordable, SetIdentity)
   EXPECT_EQ(rec.span(), j_span);
 }
 
+// according to https://zipkin.io/zipkin-api/#/ in case root span is created
+// the parentId filed should be absent.
+TEST(ZipkinSpanRecordable, SetIdentityEmptyParent)
+{
+  json j_span = {{"id", "0000000000000002"}, {"traceId", "00000000000000000000000000000001"}};
+  opentelemetry::exporter::zipkin::Recordable rec;
+  const trace::TraceId trace_id(std::array<const uint8_t, trace::TraceId::kSize>(
+      {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1}));
+
+  const trace::SpanId span_id(
+      std::array<const uint8_t, trace::SpanId::kSize>({0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2}));
+
+  const trace::SpanId parent_span_id(
+      std::array<const uint8_t, trace::SpanId::kSize>({0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}));
+
+  const opentelemetry::trace::SpanContext span_context{
+      trace_id, span_id,
+      opentelemetry::trace::TraceFlags{opentelemetry::trace::TraceFlags::kIsSampled}, true};
+
+  rec.SetIdentity(span_context, parent_span_id);
+  EXPECT_EQ(rec.span(), j_span);
+}
+
 TEST(ZipkinSpanRecordable, SetName)
 {
   nostd::string_view name = "Test Span";