diff --git a/utils/autotailor b/utils/autotailor
index 3c3e994eaa..4cc71bee5d 100755
--- a/utils/autotailor
+++ b/utils/autotailor
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import json
 
 
 NS = "http://checklists.nist.gov/xccdf/1.2"
+NS_PREFIX = "xccdf-1.2"
 DEFAULT_PROFILE_SUFFIX = "_customized"
 DEFAULT_REVERSE_DNS = "org.ssgproject.content"
 ROLES = ["full", "unscored", "unchecked"]
@@ -440,6 +441,8 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     parser = get_parser()
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
+    ET.register_namespace(NS_PREFIX, NS)
+
     if not args.profile and not args.json_tailoring:
         parser.error("one of the following arguments has to be provided: "
                      "BASE_PROFILE_ID or --json-tailoring JSON_TAILORING_FILENAME")