diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractIntegrationNamespaceHandler.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractIntegrationNamespaceHandler.java
index c40d90d881..523b6eedc5 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractIntegrationNamespaceHandler.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractIntegrationNamespaceHandler.java
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ package org.springframework.integration.config.xml;
 import org.w3c.dom.Element;
 import org.w3c.dom.Node;
 
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactoryUtils;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.ListableBeanFactory;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.config.BeanDefinition;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.config.BeanDefinitionHolder;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionBuilder;
@@ -28,6 +30,7 @@ import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.BeanDefinitionParser;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.NamespaceHandler;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.NamespaceHandlerSupport;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.ParserContext;
+import org.springframework.util.ObjectUtils;
 
 /**
  * Base class for NamespaceHandlers that registers a BeanFactoryPostProcessor
@@ -57,7 +60,16 @@ public abstract class AbstractIntegrationNamespaceHandler implements NamespaceHa
 	}
 
 	private void registerDefaultConfiguringBeanFactoryPostProcessorIfNecessary(ParserContext parserContext) {
-		if (!parserContext.getRegistry().isBeanNameInUse(DEFAULT_CONFIGURING_POSTPROCESSOR_BEAN_NAME)) {
+		boolean alreadyRegistered = false;
+		if (parserContext.getRegistry() instanceof ListableBeanFactory) {
+			alreadyRegistered = ObjectUtils.containsElement(
+					BeanFactoryUtils.beanNamesIncludingAncestors((ListableBeanFactory) parserContext.getRegistry()),
+					DEFAULT_CONFIGURING_POSTPROCESSOR_BEAN_NAME);
+		}
+		else {
+			alreadyRegistered = parserContext.getRegistry().isBeanNameInUse(DEFAULT_CONFIGURING_POSTPROCESSOR_BEAN_NAME);
+		}
+		if (!alreadyRegistered) {
 			BeanDefinitionBuilder postProcessorBuilder = BeanDefinitionBuilder.genericBeanDefinition(
 					IntegrationNamespaceUtils.BASE_PACKAGE + ".config.xml." + DEFAULT_CONFIGURING_POSTPROCESSOR_SIMPLE_CLASS_NAME);
 			BeanDefinitionHolder postProcessorHolder = new BeanDefinitionHolder(
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/DefaultConfiguringBeanFactoryPostProcessorHierarchyTests.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/DefaultConfiguringBeanFactoryPostProcessorHierarchyTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..05ae2cd074
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/DefaultConfiguringBeanFactoryPostProcessorHierarchyTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2002-2009 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.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.integration.config.xml;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertSame;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader;
+import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
+import org.springframework.context.support.GenericApplicationContext;
+import org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource;
+import org.springframework.integration.context.IntegrationContextUtils;
+
+/**
+ * @author Mark Fisher
+ */
+public class DefaultConfiguringBeanFactoryPostProcessorHierarchyTests {
+
+	@Test
+	public void verifySinglePostProcessor() {
+		ClassPathXmlApplicationContext parent = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(
+				"hierarchyTests-parent.xml", this.getClass());
+		parent.refresh();
+		GenericApplicationContext child = new GenericApplicationContext();
+		child.setParent(parent);
+		XmlBeanDefinitionReader reader = new XmlBeanDefinitionReader(child);
+		reader.loadBeanDefinitions(new ClassPathResource("hierarchyTests-child.xml", this.getClass()));
+		child.refresh();
+		assertSame(parent.getBean(IntegrationContextUtils.ERROR_CHANNEL_BEAN_NAME),
+				child.getBean(IntegrationContextUtils.ERROR_CHANNEL_BEAN_NAME));
+		assertSame(parent.getBean(IntegrationContextUtils.NULL_CHANNEL_BEAN_NAME),
+				child.getBean(IntegrationContextUtils.NULL_CHANNEL_BEAN_NAME));
+		assertSame(parent.getBean(IntegrationContextUtils.TASK_SCHEDULER_BEAN_NAME),
+				child.getBean(IntegrationContextUtils.TASK_SCHEDULER_BEAN_NAME));
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/hierarchyTests-child.xml b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/hierarchyTests-child.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5e079e31a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/hierarchyTests-child.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/spring-integration-1.0.xsd">
+
+	<channel id="childChannel"/>
+
+</beans:beans>
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/hierarchyTests-parent.xml b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/hierarchyTests-parent.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..91bfad3f1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/hierarchyTests-parent.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/spring-integration-1.0.xsd">
+
+	<channel id="parentChannel"/>
+
+</beans:beans>