diff --git a/tests/utils/autotailor_integration_test.sh b/tests/utils/autotailor_integration_test.sh
index e0681783e7..77db1ab6c1 100755
--- a/tests/utils/autotailor_integration_test.sh
+++ b/tests/utils/autotailor_integration_test.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ assert_exists 1 '/Benchmark/TestResult/rule-result[@idref="xccdf_com.example.www
 assert_exists 1 '/Benchmark/TestResult/rule-result[@idref="xccdf_com.example.www_rule_R2"]/result[text()="pass"]'
 assert_exists 1 '/Benchmark/TestResult/rule-result[@idref="xccdf_com.example.www_rule_R3"]/result[text()="pass"]'
 assert_exists 1 '/Benchmark/TestResult/rule-result[@idref="xccdf_com.example.www_rule_R4"]/result[text()="notselected"]'
+grep "xccdf-1.2:" $tailoring
 
 # select additional rules R3, R4
 python3 $autotailor --id-namespace "com.example.www" --select R3 --select R4 $ds $original_profile > $tailoring
diff --git a/utils/autotailor b/utils/autotailor
index 4bd751dd37..96b4e2442c 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"]
@@ -408,6 +409,8 @@ 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")