diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8f1d6a37..318b3f41 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ TEST_COMPOSE_PATH="$(PWD)/test/kong-tests-compose.yaml"
 
 KONG_SOURCE_LOCATION?="$$PWD/../kong/"
 EDITION?=`grep EDITION $(KONG_SOURCE_LOCATION)/.requirements | awk -F"=" '{print $$2}'`
+ENABLE_KONG_LICENSING?=`grep ENABLE_KONG_LICENSING $(KONG_SOURCE_LOCATION)/.requirements | awk -F"=" '{print $$2}'`
 
 KONG_LICENSE?="ASL 2.0"
 
@@ -193,6 +194,7 @@ else
 	--build-arg DOCKER_BASE_SUFFIX=$(DOCKER_BASE_SUFFIX) \
 	--build-arg LIBYAML_VERSION=$(LIBYAML_VERSION) \
 	--build-arg EDITION=$(EDITION) \
+	--build-arg ENABLE_KONG_LICENSING=$(ENABLE_KONG_LICENSING) \
 	--build-arg KONG_NGINX_MODULE=$(KONG_NGINX_MODULE) \
 	--build-arg RESTY_LMDB=$(RESTY_LMDB) \
 	--build-arg RESTY_WEBSOCKET=$(RESTY_WEBSOCKET) \
diff --git a/build-openresty.sh b/build-openresty.sh
index a1956706..8ccbcbdd 100755
--- a/build-openresty.sh
+++ b/build-openresty.sh
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ OPENSSL_DESTDIR=/tmp/build \
 OPENRESTY_RPATH=/usr/local/kong/lib \
 OPENRESTY_PATCHES=$OPENRESTY_PATCHES \
 EDITION=$EDITION \
+ENABLE_KONG_LICENSING=$ENABLE_KONG_LICENSING \
 /tmp/openresty-build-tools/kong-ngx-build -p /tmp/build/usr/local \
 --openresty $RESTY_VERSION \
 --openssl $RESTY_OPENSSL_VERSION \
diff --git a/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.openresty b/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.openresty
index c627dbea..0d96b894 100644
--- a/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.openresty
+++ b/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.openresty
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ FROM kong/kong-build-tools:$PACKAGE_TYPE-1.5.15
 
 ARG EDITION="community"
 ENV EDITION $EDITION
+ARG ENABLE_KONG_LICENSING="true"
+ENV ENABLE_KONG_LICENSING $ENABLE_KONG_LICENSING
 
 ARG LIBYAML_VERSION=0.2.5
 ENV LIBYAML_VERSION $LIBYAML_VERSION
diff --git a/openresty-build-tools/kong-ngx-build b/openresty-build-tools/kong-ngx-build
index 868e5d5a..80489f8a 100755
--- a/openresty-build-tools/kong-ngx-build
+++ b/openresty-build-tools/kong-ngx-build
@@ -685,7 +685,9 @@ main() {
         )
 
         if [ "$EDITION" == 'enterprise' ]; then
-          OPENRESTY_OPTS+=('--add-module=/distribution/kong-licensing/ngx_module')
+          if [ "$ENABLE_KONG_LICENSING" != "false" ]; then
+            OPENRESTY_OPTS+=('--add-module=/distribution/kong-licensing/ngx_module')
+          fi
           OPENRESTY_OPTS+=('--add-module=/distribution/lua-resty-openssl-aux-module')
         fi