diff --git a/REQUIRE b/REQUIRE
index 2d2625e3..dfbac391 100644
--- a/REQUIRE
+++ b/REQUIRE
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@ julia 0.6
 Missings
 Reexport
 Compat 0.39.0
+JSON
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/CategoricalArrays.jl b/src/CategoricalArrays.jl
index 9c547c34..07af518c 100644
--- a/src/CategoricalArrays.jl
+++ b/src/CategoricalArrays.jl
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ module CategoricalArrays
     if VERSION >= v"0.7.0-DEV.3052"
         using Printf
     end
+    using JSON # FIXME make JSON optional dependency when core Julia will support that
 
     include("typedefs.jl")
 
diff --git a/src/value.jl b/src/value.jl
index bb28b28f..76ee2296 100644
--- a/src/value.jl
+++ b/src/value.jl
@@ -160,3 +160,6 @@ Base.match(r::Regex, s::CategoricalString,
 Base.matchall(r::Regex, s::CategoricalString, overlap::Bool=false) =
     matchall(r, get(s), overlap)
 Base.collect(x::CategoricalString) = collect(get(x))
+
+# JSON of CatValue is JSON of the value it refers to
+JSON.lower(x::CatValue) = get(x)