diff --git a/nifty/field.py b/nifty/field.py
index 032d57bb9151ffd258ee7a28f175ea1d33d8b6b9..c8e12f83c0ec39348579118b9f41f6756267b627 100644
--- a/nifty/field.py
+++ b/nifty/field.py
@@ -26,8 +26,6 @@ import numpy as np
 from keepers import Versionable,\
                     Loggable
 
-from .config import nifty_configuration as gc
-
 from .domain_object import DomainObject
 
 from .spaces.power_space import PowerSpace
diff --git a/nifty/operators/diagonal_operator/diagonal_operator.py b/nifty/operators/diagonal_operator/diagonal_operator.py
index 119a30bd05fe82d7cd70849948dfbe76ad413d09..b452632a9f6e55ed83ae97d020cb365cf0a4bac4 100644
--- a/nifty/operators/diagonal_operator/diagonal_operator.py
+++ b/nifty/operators/diagonal_operator/diagonal_operator.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ from __future__ import division
 from builtins import range
 import numpy as np
 
-from ...config import nifty_configuration as gc
 from ...field import Field
 from ..endomorphic_operator import EndomorphicOperator
 
diff --git a/nifty/probing/prober/prober.py b/nifty/probing/prober/prober.py
index 5c9afefa0c5692608fe98e193e5ade757d95a438..7d79dce6c931ebedc37527b889e7d6028d7f27a9 100644
--- a/nifty/probing/prober/prober.py
+++ b/nifty/probing/prober/prober.py
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ import numpy as np
 
 from ...field import Field
 from ... import nifty_utilities as utilities
-from ... import nifty_configuration as nc
 
 
 class Prober(object):
diff --git a/nifty/spaces/power_space/power_space.py b/nifty/spaces/power_space/power_space.py
index 9a8a697e8ed49485826d4a5959e88c971519d1a6..e8e0ea360159aaba4a874dc689ca294fe0508aa1 100644
--- a/nifty/spaces/power_space/power_space.py
+++ b/nifty/spaces/power_space/power_space.py
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import numpy as np
 
 from ...spaces.space import Space
 from functools import reduce
-from ...config import nifty_configuration as gc
 
 
 class PowerSpace(Space):
diff --git a/nifty/sugar.py b/nifty/sugar.py
index 6f25f425eb5db5543b97752b1573802d074a4583..72240d0ead74fa05815fa8df978556030b2013b8 100644
--- a/nifty/sugar.py
+++ b/nifty/sugar.py
@@ -24,8 +24,7 @@ from . import Space,\
                   ComposedOperator,\
                   DiagonalOperator,\
                   FFTOperator,\
-                  sqrt,\
-                  nifty_configuration
+                  sqrt
 
 __all__ = ['create_power_operator',
            'generate_posterior_sample',
diff --git a/test/test_field.py b/test/test_field.py
index 0b2fa51d5944836667af5c7380a9e7470b625501..dffb263e79366deb72fdc4d4a1379ab85b51922e 100644
--- a/test/test_field.py
+++ b/test/test_field.py
@@ -29,8 +29,7 @@ from itertools import product
 from nifty import Field,\
                   RGSpace,\
                   LMSpace,\
-                  PowerSpace,\
-                  nifty_configuration
+                  PowerSpace
 
 from test.common import expand
 
diff --git a/test/test_operators/test_fft_operator.py b/test/test_operators/test_fft_operator.py
index af57f93aaa475fbdf0b2974473e725821eecf474..84110897312d48fbad39c7e9f4a2759326dc7cc3 100644
--- a/test/test_operators/test_fft_operator.py
+++ b/test/test_operators/test_fft_operator.py
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ from nifty import Field,\
     FFTOperator
 from itertools import product
 from test.common import expand
-from nose.plugins.skip import SkipTest
 
 
 def _get_rtol(tp):
diff --git a/test/test_spaces/test_gl_space.py b/test/test_spaces/test_gl_space.py
index fd6a2a64bf1513470165bd75733cd97aa306fdfb..2dd461b04bdd9e6b703d52ae7f189d1529ac2bbb 100644
--- a/test/test_spaces/test_gl_space.py
+++ b/test/test_spaces/test_gl_space.py
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import itertools
 
 from numpy.testing import assert_, assert_equal, assert_raises,\
         assert_almost_equal
-from nose.plugins.skip import SkipTest
 from nifty import GLSpace
 from test.common import expand
 
@@ -67,21 +66,14 @@ class GLSpaceInterfaceTests(unittest.TestCase):
     @expand([['nlat', int],
             ['nlon', int]])
     def test_property_ret_type(self, attribute, expected_type):
-        try:
-            g = GLSpace(2)
-        except ImportError:
-            raise SkipTest
-        else:
-            assert_(isinstance(getattr(g, attribute), expected_type))
+        g = GLSpace(2)
+        assert_(isinstance(getattr(g, attribute), expected_type))
 
 
 class GLSpaceFunctionalityTests(unittest.TestCase):
     @expand(CONSTRUCTOR_CONFIGS)
     def test_constructor(self, nlat, nlon, expected):
-        try:
-            g = GLSpace(4)
-        except ImportError:
-            raise SkipTest
+        g = GLSpace(4)
 
         if 'error' in expected:
             with assert_raises(expected['error']):
diff --git a/test/test_spaces/test_power_space.py b/test/test_spaces/test_power_space.py
index ae3255460b93bd19b03981e3b18f9368bf2e6ad4..114bead4917dd0c037ad05d8fbb44afc1e5b723f 100644
--- a/test/test_spaces/test_power_space.py
+++ b/test/test_spaces/test_power_space.py
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ from numpy.testing import assert_, assert_equal, assert_almost_equal,\
 from nifty import PowerSpace, RGSpace, Space, LMSpace
 from test.common import expand
 from itertools import product, chain
-from nose.plugins.skip import SkipTest
 
 HARMONIC_SPACES = [RGSpace((8,), harmonic=True),
                    RGSpace((8,), harmonic=True, zerocenter=True),
diff --git a/test/test_spaces/test_rg_space.py b/test/test_spaces/test_rg_space.py
index 14813075d510f53afeac4dfe96fa0bcc66eb065b..f0321706ff0d9478fe24dbbc457088785d516759 100644
--- a/test/test_spaces/test_rg_space.py
+++ b/test/test_spaces/test_rg_space.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ import numpy as np
 
 from numpy.testing import assert_, assert_equal, assert_almost_equal, \
                           assert_array_equal
-from nifty import RGSpace, nifty_configuration
+from nifty import RGSpace
 from test.common import expand
 from itertools import product
 from nose.plugins.skip import SkipTest