diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Utilities.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Utilities.php
index d7b57bf47410fbea4b31ce183dc4410fd20d421e..c0522f0587c55581a3c170c9d4198c564c3d2e32 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/Utilities.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Utilities.php
@@ -559,25 +559,10 @@ class SimpleSAML_Utilities {
 
 
 	/**
-	 * Normalizes a URL to an absolute URL and validate it.
-	 *
-	 * In addition to resolving the URL, this function makes sure that it is
-	 * a link to a http or https site.
-	 *
-	 * @param string $url  The relative URL.
-	 * @return string  An absolute URL for the given relative URL.
+	 * @deprecated This method will be removed in SSP 2.0. Please use SimpleSAML\Utils\HTTP::normalizeURL() instead.
 	 */
 	public static function normalizeURL($url) {
-		assert('is_string($url)');
-
-		$url = SimpleSAML_Utilities::resolveURL($url, SimpleSAML_Utilities::selfURL());
-
-		/* Verify that the URL is to a http or https site. */
-		if (!preg_match('@^https?://@i', $url)) {
-			throw new SimpleSAML_Error_Exception('Invalid URL: ' . $url);
-		}
-
-		return $url;
+		return \SimpleSAML\Utils\HTTP::normalizeURL($url);
 	}
 
 
diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Utils/HTTP.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Utils/HTTP.php
index d39e519516ef877605637cc03c55496a0b6012f9..ec3f9ce70998975f2f7a42c5523bfad692b18b24 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/Utils/HTTP.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Utils/HTTP.php
@@ -428,6 +428,35 @@ class HTTP
     }
 
 
+    /**
+     * Normalizes a URL to an absolute URL and validate it. In addition to resolving the URL, this function makes sure
+     * that it is a link to an http or https site.
+     *
+     * @param string $url The relative URL.
+     *
+     * @return string An absolute URL for the given relative URL.
+     * @throws \SimpleSAML_Error_Exception If $url is not a string or a valid URL.
+     *
+     * @author Olav Morken, UNINETT AS <olav.morken@uninett.no>
+     * @author Jaime Perez, UNINETT AS <jaime.perez@uninett.no>
+     */
+    public static function normalizeURL($url)
+    {
+        if (!is_string($url)) {
+            throw new \SimpleSAML_Error_Exception('Invalid input parameters.');
+        }
+
+        $url = self::resolveURL($url, self::getSelfURL());
+
+        // verify that the URL is to a http or https site
+        if (!preg_match('@^https?://@i', $url)) {
+            throw new \SimpleSAML_Error_Exception('Invalid URL: '.$url);
+        }
+
+        return $url;
+    }
+
+
     /**
      * Parse a query string into an array.
      *
diff --git a/modules/core/www/no_cookie.php b/modules/core/www/no_cookie.php
index a81055a8b77fc344fefbdd30ab8f98571be68afa..36aad7a1d292625f33eff1437bcfcc366182eaa8 100644
--- a/modules/core/www/no_cookie.php
+++ b/modules/core/www/no_cookie.php
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 if (isset($_REQUEST['retryURL'])) {
 	$retryURL = (string)$_REQUEST['retryURL'];
-	$retryURL = SimpleSAML_Utilities::normalizeURL($retryURL);
+	$retryURL = \SimpleSAML\Utils\HTTP::normalizeURL($retryURL);
 } else {
 	$retryURL = NULL;
 }
diff --git a/www/logout.php b/www/logout.php
index 53942535eab8b7d1aa4ee3b941cc65ba18bdcce2..c361b29ec25326721834fcdc47c81268201089ac 100644
--- a/www/logout.php
+++ b/www/logout.php
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ $config = SimpleSAML_Configuration::getInstance();
 
 if(array_key_exists('link_href', $_REQUEST)) {
 	$link = (string)$_REQUEST['link_href'];
-	$link = SimpleSAML_Utilities::normalizeURL($link);
+	$link = \SimpleSAML\Utils\HTTP::normalizeURL($link);
 } else {
 	$link = 'index.php';
 }