diff --git a/core/modules/simpletest/src/TestBase.php b/core/modules/simpletest/src/TestBase.php
index 5d41735e5b..dfaac2c743 100644
--- a/core/modules/simpletest/src/TestBase.php
+++ b/core/modules/simpletest/src/TestBase.php
@@ -1392,8 +1392,3 @@ public function getTempFilesDirectory() {
   }
 
 }
-
-// THIS LINE MUST BE REMOVED AFTER TEST RUNNERS ARE RECONFIGURED!!!
-if (defined('ASSERT_EXCEPTION')) {
-  assert_options(ASSERT_EXCEPTION, 1);
-}
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/Tests/AssertHelperTrait.php b/core/tests/Drupal/Tests/AssertHelperTrait.php
index 1ea613c390..62a85a4821 100644
--- a/core/tests/Drupal/Tests/AssertHelperTrait.php
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/Tests/AssertHelperTrait.php
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ protected static function castSafeStrings($value) {
    *   Option failure message.
    */
   protected function expectAssertion($message = '') {
-    if (ini_get('zend.assertions') != 1) {
+    if (ini_get('zend.assertions') > 0) {
       $this->markTestSkipped(
         'Assertions are not enabled. Set zend.assertions to 1 to run this test.'
       );
diff --git a/core/tests/bootstrap.php b/core/tests/bootstrap.php
index a92cb65ee0..ce3b45233d 100644
--- a/core/tests/bootstrap.php
+++ b/core/tests/bootstrap.php
@@ -161,11 +161,6 @@ function drupal_phpunit_populate_class_loader() {
 // reduce the fragility of the testing system in general.
 date_default_timezone_set('Australia/Sydney');
 
-// THIS LINE MUST BE REMOVED AFTER TEST RUNNERS ARE RECONFIGURED!!!
-if (defined('ASSERT_EXCEPTION')) {
-  assert_options(ASSERT_EXCEPTION, 1);
-}
-
 // PHPUnit 4 to PHPUnit 6 bridge. Tests written for PHPUnit 4 need to work on
 // PHPUnit 6 with a minimum of fuss.
 if (class_exists('PHPUnit\Runner\Version') && version_compare(Version::id(), '6.1', '>=')) {