diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReader.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReader.java
index 971bb532..23341a07 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReader.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReader.java
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ import org.springframework.xml.sax.AbstractXmlReader;
 import org.xml.sax.Attributes;
 import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
 import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
+import org.xml.sax.SAXNotRecognizedException;
+import org.xml.sax.SAXNotSupportedException;
 import org.xml.sax.helpers.AttributesImpl;
 
 /**
@@ -39,8 +41,16 @@ import org.xml.sax.helpers.AttributesImpl;
  */
 public class SaajXmlReader extends AbstractXmlReader {
 
+    private static final String NAMESPACES_FEATURE_NAME = "http://xml.org/sax/features/namespaces";
+
+    private static final String NAMESPACE_PREFIXES_FEATURE_NAME = "http://xml.org/sax/features/namespace-prefixes";
+
     private final Node startNode;
 
+    private boolean namespacesFeature = true;
+
+    private boolean namespacePrefixesFeature = false;
+
     /**
      * Constructs a new instance of the <code>SaajXmlReader</code> that reads from the given <code>Node</code>.
      *
@@ -50,6 +60,30 @@ public class SaajXmlReader extends AbstractXmlReader {
         this.startNode = startNode;
     }
 
+    public boolean getFeature(String name) throws SAXNotRecognizedException, SAXNotSupportedException {
+        if (NAMESPACES_FEATURE_NAME.equals(name)) {
+            return namespacesFeature;
+        }
+        else if (NAMESPACE_PREFIXES_FEATURE_NAME.equals(name)) {
+            return namespacePrefixesFeature;
+        }
+        else {
+            return super.getFeature(name);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public void setFeature(String name, boolean value) throws SAXNotRecognizedException, SAXNotSupportedException {
+        if (NAMESPACES_FEATURE_NAME.equals(name)) {
+            this.namespacesFeature = value;
+        }
+        else if (NAMESPACE_PREFIXES_FEATURE_NAME.equals(name)) {
+            this.namespacePrefixesFeature = value;
+        }
+        else {
+            super.setFeature(name, value);
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Parses the StAX XML reader passed at construction-time.
      * <p/>
@@ -94,35 +128,38 @@ public class SaajXmlReader extends AbstractXmlReader {
         }
     }
 
-    private void handleText(Text text) throws SAXException {
-        if (getContentHandler() != null) {
-            char[] ch = text.getValue().toCharArray();
-            getContentHandler().characters(ch, 0, ch.length);
-        }
-    }
-
     private void handleElement(SOAPElement element) throws SAXException {
         Name elementName = element.getElementName();
         if (getContentHandler() != null) {
-            for (Iterator iterator = element.getNamespacePrefixes(); iterator.hasNext();) {
-                String prefix = (String) iterator.next();
-                String namespaceUri = element.getNamespaceURI(prefix);
-                getContentHandler().startPrefixMapping(prefix, namespaceUri);
+            if (namespacesFeature) {
+                for (Iterator iterator = element.getNamespacePrefixes(); iterator.hasNext();) {
+                    String prefix = (String) iterator.next();
+                    String namespaceUri = element.getNamespaceURI(prefix);
+                    getContentHandler().startPrefixMapping(prefix, namespaceUri);
+                }
+                getContentHandler()
+                        .startElement(elementName.getURI(), elementName.getLocalName(), elementName.getQualifiedName(),
+                                getAttributes(element));
+            }
+            else {
+                getContentHandler().startElement("", "", elementName.getQualifiedName(), getAttributes(element));
             }
-            getContentHandler()
-                    .startElement(elementName.getURI(), elementName.getLocalName(), elementName.getQualifiedName(),
-                            getAttributes(element));
         }
         for (Iterator iterator = element.getChildElements(); iterator.hasNext();) {
             Node child = (Node) iterator.next();
             handleNode(child);
         }
         if (getContentHandler() != null) {
-            getContentHandler()
-                    .endElement(elementName.getURI(), elementName.getLocalName(), elementName.getQualifiedName());
-            for (Iterator iterator = element.getNamespacePrefixes(); iterator.hasNext();) {
-                String prefix = (String) iterator.next();
-                getContentHandler().endPrefixMapping(prefix);
+            if (namespacesFeature) {
+                getContentHandler()
+                        .endElement(elementName.getURI(), elementName.getLocalName(), elementName.getQualifiedName());
+                for (Iterator iterator = element.getNamespacePrefixes(); iterator.hasNext();) {
+                    String prefix = (String) iterator.next();
+                    getContentHandler().endPrefixMapping(prefix);
+                }
+            }
+            else {
+                getContentHandler().endElement("", "", elementName.getQualifiedName());
             }
         }
     }
@@ -135,8 +172,20 @@ public class SaajXmlReader extends AbstractXmlReader {
             attributes.addAttribute(attributeName.getURI(), attributeName.getLocalName(),
                     attributeName.getQualifiedName(), "CDATA", attributeValue);
         }
+        if (namespacePrefixesFeature || !namespacesFeature) {
+            for (Iterator iterator = element.getNamespacePrefixes(); iterator.hasNext();) {
+                String prefix = (String) iterator.next();
+                String namespaceUri = element.getNamespaceURI(prefix);
+                attributes.addAttribute("", "", "xmlns:" + prefix, "CDATA", namespaceUri);
+            }
+        }
         return attributes;
     }
 
-
+    private void handleText(Text text) throws SAXException {
+        if (getContentHandler() != null) {
+            char[] ch = text.getValue().toCharArray();
+            getContentHandler().characters(ch, 0, ch.length);
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReaderTest.java b/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReaderTest.java
index 201ab9d4..66b9ff95 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReaderTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReaderTest.java
@@ -17,21 +17,22 @@
 package org.springframework.ws.soap.saaj.support;
 
 import javax.xml.soap.MessageFactory;
+import javax.xml.soap.SOAPEnvelope;
 import javax.xml.soap.SOAPMessage;
-import javax.xml.transform.Result;
 import javax.xml.transform.Source;
 import javax.xml.transform.Transformer;
 import javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory;
+import javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMResult;
 import javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMSource;
 import javax.xml.transform.sax.SAXSource;
 
 import org.custommonkey.xmlunit.XMLTestCase;
-import org.springframework.xml.transform.StringResult;
+import org.w3c.dom.Document;
 import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
 
 public class SaajXmlReaderTest extends XMLTestCase {
 
-    private SaajXmlReader reader;
+    private SaajXmlReader saajReader;
 
     private SOAPMessage message;
 
@@ -40,16 +41,30 @@ public class SaajXmlReaderTest extends XMLTestCase {
     protected void setUp() throws Exception {
         MessageFactory messageFactory = MessageFactory.newInstance();
         message = messageFactory.createMessage();
-        reader = new SaajXmlReader(message.getSOAPPart().getEnvelope());
+        SOAPEnvelope envelope = message.getSOAPPart().getEnvelope();
+        saajReader = new SaajXmlReader(envelope);
         transformer = TransformerFactory.newInstance().newTransformer();
     }
 
-    public void testIt() throws Exception {
-        Result result = new StringResult();
-        Source source = new SAXSource(reader, new InputSource());
+    public void testNamespacesPrefixes() throws Exception {
+        saajReader.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/namespaces", true);
+        saajReader.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/namespace-prefixes", true);
+        DOMResult result = new DOMResult();
+        Source source = new SAXSource(saajReader, new InputSource());
         transformer.transform(source, result);
-        Result expected = new StringResult();
+        DOMResult expected = new DOMResult();
         transformer.transform(new DOMSource(message.getSOAPPart().getEnvelope()), expected);
-        assertXMLEqual(expected.toString(), result.toString());
+        assertXMLEqual((Document) expected.getNode(), (Document) result.getNode());
+    }
+
+    public void testNamespacesNoPrefixes() throws Exception {
+        saajReader.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/namespaces", true);
+        saajReader.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/namespace-prefixes", false);
+        DOMResult result = new DOMResult();
+        Source source = new SAXSource(saajReader, new InputSource());
+        transformer.transform(source, result);
+        DOMResult expected = new DOMResult();
+        transformer.transform(new DOMSource(message.getSOAPPart().getEnvelope()), expected);
+        assertXMLEqual((Document) expected.getNode(), (Document) result.getNode());
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/xml/src/main/java/org/springframework/xml/sax/AbstractXmlReader.java b/xml/src/main/java/org/springframework/xml/sax/AbstractXmlReader.java
index a24c32ae..7ef22bc3 100644
--- a/xml/src/main/java/org/springframework/xml/sax/AbstractXmlReader.java
+++ b/xml/src/main/java/org/springframework/xml/sax/AbstractXmlReader.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import org.xml.sax.DTDHandler;
 import org.xml.sax.EntityResolver;
 import org.xml.sax.ErrorHandler;
 import org.xml.sax.SAXNotRecognizedException;
+import org.xml.sax.SAXNotSupportedException;
 import org.xml.sax.XMLReader;
 import org.xml.sax.ext.LexicalHandler;
 
@@ -93,7 +94,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractXmlReader implements XMLReader {
      * @throws org.xml.sax.SAXNotRecognizedException
      *          always
      */
-    public boolean getFeature(String name) throws SAXNotRecognizedException {
+    public boolean getFeature(String name) throws SAXNotRecognizedException, SAXNotSupportedException {
         throw new SAXNotRecognizedException(name);
     }
 
@@ -102,7 +103,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractXmlReader implements XMLReader {
      *
      * @throws SAXNotRecognizedException always
      */
-    public void setFeature(String name, boolean value) throws SAXNotRecognizedException {
+    public void setFeature(String name, boolean value) throws SAXNotRecognizedException, SAXNotSupportedException {
         throw new SAXNotRecognizedException(name);
     }
 
@@ -110,7 +111,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractXmlReader implements XMLReader {
      * Throws a <code>SAXNotRecognizedException</code> exception when the given property does not signify a lexical
      * handler. The property name for a lexical handler is <code>http://xml.org/sax/properties/lexical-handler</code>.
      */
-    public Object getProperty(String name) throws SAXNotRecognizedException {
+    public Object getProperty(String name) throws SAXNotRecognizedException, SAXNotSupportedException {
         if ("http://xml.org/sax/properties/lexical-handler".equals(name)) {
             return lexicalHandler;
         }
@@ -123,7 +124,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractXmlReader implements XMLReader {
      * Throws a <code>SAXNotRecognizedException</code> exception when the given property does not signify a lexical
      * handler. The property name for a lexical handler is <code>http://xml.org/sax/properties/lexical-handler</code>.
      */
-    public void setProperty(String name, Object value) throws SAXNotRecognizedException {
+    public void setProperty(String name, Object value) throws SAXNotRecognizedException, SAXNotSupportedException {
         if ("http://xml.org/sax/properties/lexical-handler".equals(name)) {
             lexicalHandler = (LexicalHandler) value;
         }