diff --git a/gcc/rust/expand/rust-derive.cc b/gcc/rust/expand/rust-derive.cc
index 55147df26f2..0e985ee3806 100644
--- a/gcc/rust/expand/rust-derive.cc
+++ b/gcc/rust/expand/rust-derive.cc
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #include "rust-derive-ord.h"
 #include "rust-derive-partial-eq.h"
 #include "rust-derive-hash.h"
+#include "rust-system.h"
 
 namespace Rust {
 namespace AST {
@@ -39,6 +40,16 @@ DeriveVisitor::derive (Item &item, const Attribute &attr,
 {
   auto loc = attr.get_locus ();
 
+  using kind = AST::Item::Kind;
+  auto item_kind = item.get_item_kind ();
+  if (item_kind != kind::Enum && item_kind != kind::Struct
+      && item_kind != kind::Union)
+    {
+      rust_error_at (loc,
+		     "derive may only be applied to structs, enums and unions");
+      return {};
+    }
+
   switch (to_derive)
     {
     case BuiltinMacro::Clone:
diff --git a/gcc/rust/expand/rust-expand-visitor.cc b/gcc/rust/expand/rust-expand-visitor.cc
index 4593cc3f930..1ad395a9ea8 100644
--- a/gcc/rust/expand/rust-expand-visitor.cc
+++ b/gcc/rust/expand/rust-expand-visitor.cc
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 #include "rust-expand-visitor.h"
 #include "rust-ast-fragment.h"
+#include "rust-diagnostics.h"
 #include "rust-item.h"
 #include "rust-proc-macro.h"
 #include "rust-attributes.h"
diff --git a/gcc/testsuite/rust/compile/issue-3971.rs b/gcc/testsuite/rust/compile/issue-3971.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f3dbb801f9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gcc/testsuite/rust/compile/issue-3971.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#[lang = "copy"]
+trait Copy {}
+
+#[derive(Copy)]
+// { dg-error "derive may only be applied to structs, enums and unions" "" { target *-*-* } .-1 }
+
+pub fn check_ge(a: i32, b: i32) -> bool {
+    a >= b
+}
+