diff --git a/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/AbstractStaxContentHandler.java b/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/AbstractStaxContentHandler.java
index 4831c68ae82..cc7017335a5 100644
--- a/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/AbstractStaxContentHandler.java
+++ b/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/AbstractStaxContentHandler.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2009 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2010 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -35,8 +35,11 @@ abstract class AbstractStaxContentHandler implements ContentHandler {
 
 	private SimpleNamespaceContext namespaceContext = new SimpleNamespaceContext();
 
+	private boolean namespaceContextChanged = false;
+
 	public final void startDocument() throws SAXException {
 		namespaceContext.clear();
+		namespaceContextChanged = false;
 		try {
 			startDocumentInternal();
 		}
@@ -49,6 +52,7 @@ abstract class AbstractStaxContentHandler implements ContentHandler {
 
 	public final void endDocument() throws SAXException {
 		namespaceContext.clear();
+		namespaceContextChanged = false;
 		try {
 			endDocumentInternal();
 		}
@@ -66,6 +70,7 @@ abstract class AbstractStaxContentHandler implements ContentHandler {
 	 */
 	public final void startPrefixMapping(String prefix, String uri) {
 		namespaceContext.bindNamespaceUri(prefix, uri);
+		namespaceContextChanged = true;
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -75,11 +80,13 @@ abstract class AbstractStaxContentHandler implements ContentHandler {
 	 */
 	public final void endPrefixMapping(String prefix) {
 		namespaceContext.removeBinding(prefix);
+		namespaceContextChanged = true;
 	}
 
 	public final void startElement(String uri, String localName, String qName, Attributes atts) throws SAXException {
 		try {
-			startElementInternal(toQName(uri, qName), atts, namespaceContext);
+			startElementInternal(toQName(uri, qName), atts, namespaceContextChanged ? namespaceContext : null);
+			namespaceContextChanged = false;
 		}
 		catch (XMLStreamException ex) {
 			throw new SAXException("Could not handle startElement: " + ex.getMessage(), ex);
@@ -91,7 +98,8 @@ abstract class AbstractStaxContentHandler implements ContentHandler {
 
 	public final void endElement(String uri, String localName, String qName) throws SAXException {
 		try {
-			endElementInternal(toQName(uri, qName), namespaceContext);
+			endElementInternal(toQName(uri, qName), namespaceContextChanged ? namespaceContext : null);
+			namespaceContextChanged = false;
 		}
 		catch (XMLStreamException ex) {
 			throw new SAXException("Could not handle endElement: " + ex.getMessage(), ex);
diff --git a/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/StaxEventContentHandler.java b/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/StaxEventContentHandler.java
index 2744c268fa0..dee0cce42bb 100644
--- a/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/StaxEventContentHandler.java
+++ b/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/StaxEventContentHandler.java
@@ -95,13 +95,13 @@ class StaxEventContentHandler extends AbstractStaxContentHandler {
 			throws XMLStreamException {
 		List attributes = getAttributes(atts);
 		List namespaces = createNamespaces(namespaceContext);
-		consumeEvent(eventFactory.createStartElement(name, attributes.iterator(), namespaces.iterator()));
+		consumeEvent(eventFactory.createStartElement(name, attributes.iterator(), namespaces != null ? namespaces.iterator() : null));
 	}
 
 	@Override
 	protected void endElementInternal(QName name, SimpleNamespaceContext namespaceContext) throws XMLStreamException {
 		List namespaces = createNamespaces(namespaceContext);
-		consumeEvent(eventFactory.createEndElement(name, namespaces.iterator()));
+		consumeEvent(eventFactory.createEndElement(name, namespaces != null ? namespaces.iterator() : null));
 	}
 
 	@Override
@@ -128,6 +128,10 @@ class StaxEventContentHandler extends AbstractStaxContentHandler {
 
 	/** Creates and returns a list of <code>NameSpace</code> objects from the <code>NamespaceContext</code>. */
 	private List<Namespace> createNamespaces(SimpleNamespaceContext namespaceContext) {
+		if (namespaceContext == null) {
+			return null;
+		}
+
 		List<Namespace> namespaces = new ArrayList<Namespace>();
 		String defaultNamespaceUri = namespaceContext.getNamespaceURI(XMLConstants.DEFAULT_NS_PREFIX);
 		if (StringUtils.hasLength(defaultNamespaceUri)) {
@@ -188,4 +192,4 @@ class StaxEventContentHandler extends AbstractStaxContentHandler {
 			return locator.getSystemId();
 		}
 	}
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}