diff --git a/numpy/core/tests/test_multiarray.py b/numpy/core/tests/test_multiarray.py
index 2464dee8b56a..958b265ca570 100644
--- a/numpy/core/tests/test_multiarray.py
+++ b/numpy/core/tests/test_multiarray.py
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
     assert_allclose, IS_PYPY, HAS_REFCOUNT, assert_array_less, runstring,
     temppath, suppress_warnings, break_cycles,
     )
+from numpy.testing._private.utils import _no_tracing
 from numpy.core.tests._locales import CommaDecimalPointLocale
 
 # Need to test an object that does not fully implement math interface
@@ -96,26 +97,6 @@ def _aligned_zeros(shape, dtype=float, order="C", align=None):
     data.fill(0)
     return data
 
-def _no_tracing(func):
-    """
-    Decorator to temporarily turn off tracing for the duration of a test.
-    Needed in tests that check refcounting, otherwise the tracing itself
-    influences the refcounts
-    """
-    if not hasattr(sys, 'gettrace'):
-        return func
-    else:
-        @functools.wraps(func)
-        def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
-            original_trace = sys.gettrace()
-            try:
-                sys.settrace(None)
-                return func(*args, **kwargs)
-            finally:
-                sys.settrace(original_trace)
-        return wrapper
-
-
 
 class TestFlags(object):
     def setup(self):
diff --git a/numpy/core/tests/test_regression.py b/numpy/core/tests/test_regression.py
index 3880b139418a..f2d3d788dd38 100644
--- a/numpy/core/tests/test_regression.py
+++ b/numpy/core/tests/test_regression.py
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@
         assert_raises_regex, assert_warns, suppress_warnings,
         _assert_valid_refcount, HAS_REFCOUNT,
         )
+from numpy.testing._private.utils import _no_tracing
 from numpy.compat import asbytes, asunicode, long, pickle
-from test.support import no_tracing
 
 try:
     RecursionError
@@ -1317,7 +1317,7 @@ def test_void_scalar_constructor(self):
             assert_(pickle.loads(
                 pickle.dumps(test_record, protocol=proto)) == test_record)
 
-    @no_tracing
+    @_no_tracing
     def test_blasdot_uninitialized_memory(self):
         # Ticket #950
         for m in [0, 1, 2]:
diff --git a/numpy/testing/_private/utils.py b/numpy/testing/_private/utils.py
index 23267a9e1f72..d00538c19c3a 100644
--- a/numpy/testing/_private/utils.py
+++ b/numpy/testing/_private/utils.py
@@ -2476,3 +2476,24 @@ def _get_mem_available():
             return info['memfree'] + info['cached']
 
     return None
+
+
+def _no_tracing(func):
+    """
+    Decorator to temporarily turn off tracing for the duration of a test.
+    Needed in tests that check refcounting, otherwise the tracing itself
+    influences the refcounts
+    """
+    if not hasattr(sys, 'gettrace'):
+        return func
+    else:
+        @wraps(func)
+        def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
+            original_trace = sys.gettrace()
+            try:
+                sys.settrace(None)
+                return func(*args, **kwargs)
+            finally:
+                sys.settrace(original_trace)
+        return wrapper
+