diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 2f8b5f6c7..b875e2c02 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -14,9 +14,6 @@ minversion = 2.4
 
 [testenv]
 setenv =
-    # see https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/6264 which seems to
-    # happen, at least on Debian 10
-    SETUPTOOLS_USE_DISTUTILS=stdlib
 passenv = MAGIC_FOLDER_*,PIP_*,SUBUNITREPORTER_*,USERPROFILE,HOMEDRIVE,HOMEPATH
 deps =
      -r requirements/tox.txt