diff --git a/api/src/context/context.ts b/api/src/context/context.ts
index 4dc2b4c47c..86e7aabec3 100644
--- a/api/src/context/context.ts
+++ b/api/src/context/context.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@
  */
 
 import { Context, createContextKey } from '@opentelemetry/context-base';
-import { Baggage, NoopSpan, Span, SpanContext } from '../';
+import { Baggage, Span, SpanContext } from '../';
+import { NoopSpan } from '../trace/NoopSpan';
 
 /**
  * span key
diff --git a/api/src/index.ts b/api/src/index.ts
index 4c6b64ffd6..b3cbbd0f0f 100644
--- a/api/src/index.ts
+++ b/api/src/index.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ export * from './trace/Event';
 export * from './trace/link_context';
 export * from './trace/link';
 export * from './trace/NoopLogger';
-export * from './trace/NoopSpan';
 export * from './trace/NoopTracer';
 export * from './trace/NoopTracerProvider';
 export * from './trace/ProxyTracer';
diff --git a/api/src/trace/NoopSpan.ts b/api/src/trace/NoopSpan.ts
index 85406098e1..40f238d3ad 100644
--- a/api/src/trace/NoopSpan.ts
+++ b/api/src/trace/NoopSpan.ts
@@ -73,5 +73,3 @@ export class NoopSpan implements Span {
   // By default does nothing
   recordException(_exception: Exception, _time?: TimeInput): void {}
 }
-
-export const NOOP_SPAN = new NoopSpan();
diff --git a/api/src/trace/NoopTracer.ts b/api/src/trace/NoopTracer.ts
index bb25bcbe1d..683a7e5ab2 100644
--- a/api/src/trace/NoopTracer.ts
+++ b/api/src/trace/NoopTracer.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 import { Span, SpanOptions, Tracer, SpanContext } from '..';
 import { Context } from '@opentelemetry/context-base';
-import { NoopSpan, NOOP_SPAN } from './NoopSpan';
+import { NoopSpan } from './NoopSpan';
 import { isSpanContextValid } from './spancontext-utils';
 import { getSpanContext } from '../context/context';
 
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ export class NoopTracer implements Tracer {
   startSpan(name: string, options?: SpanOptions, context?: Context): Span {
     const root = Boolean(options?.root);
     if (root) {
-      return NOOP_SPAN;
+      return new NoopSpan();
     }
 
     const parentFromContext = context && getSpanContext(context);
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ export class NoopTracer implements Tracer {
     ) {
       return new NoopSpan(parentFromContext);
     } else {
-      return NOOP_SPAN;
+      return new NoopSpan();
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/api/test/api/api.test.ts b/api/test/api/api.test.ts
index b3e7728095..609077f93e 100644
--- a/api/test/api/api.test.ts
+++ b/api/test/api/api.test.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 import * as assert from 'assert';
 import api, {
   TraceFlags,
-  NoopSpan,
   NoopTracerProvider,
   NoopTracer,
   SpanOptions,
@@ -33,6 +32,7 @@ import api, {
   defaultTextMapSetter,
   defaultTextMapGetter,
 } from '../../src';
+import { NoopSpan } from '../../src/trace/NoopSpan';
 
 describe('API', () => {
   it('should expose a tracer provider via getTracerProvider', () => {
diff --git a/api/test/noop-implementations/noop-span.test.ts b/api/test/noop-implementations/noop-span.test.ts
index f05beae0b7..d2974fca7e 100644
--- a/api/test/noop-implementations/noop-span.test.ts
+++ b/api/test/noop-implementations/noop-span.test.ts
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@ import {
   SpanStatusCode,
   INVALID_SPANID,
   INVALID_TRACEID,
-  NoopSpan,
   TraceFlags,
 } from '../../src';
+import { NoopSpan } from '../../src/trace/NoopSpan';
 
 describe('NoopSpan', () => {
   it('do not crash', () => {
diff --git a/api/test/noop-implementations/noop-tracer.test.ts b/api/test/noop-implementations/noop-tracer.test.ts
index 3730968323..661ff34dbc 100644
--- a/api/test/noop-implementations/noop-tracer.test.ts
+++ b/api/test/noop-implementations/noop-tracer.test.ts
@@ -17,28 +17,26 @@
 import * as assert from 'assert';
 import {
   NoopTracer,
-  NOOP_SPAN,
   SpanContext,
   SpanKind,
   TraceFlags,
   context,
   setSpanContext,
 } from '../../src';
+import { NoopSpan } from '../../src/trace/NoopSpan';
 
 describe('NoopTracer', () => {
   it('should not crash', () => {
     const tracer = new NoopTracer();
 
-    assert.deepStrictEqual(tracer.startSpan('span-name'), NOOP_SPAN);
-    assert.deepStrictEqual(
-      tracer.startSpan('span-name1', { kind: SpanKind.CLIENT }),
-      NOOP_SPAN
+    assert.ok(tracer.startSpan('span-name') instanceof NoopSpan);
+    assert.ok(
+      tracer.startSpan('span-name1', { kind: SpanKind.CLIENT }) instanceof
+        NoopSpan
     );
-    assert.deepStrictEqual(
-      tracer.startSpan('span-name2', {
-        kind: SpanKind.CLIENT,
-      }),
-      NOOP_SPAN
+    assert.ok(
+      tracer.startSpan('span-name2', { kind: SpanKind.CLIENT }) instanceof
+        NoopSpan
     );
   });
 
diff --git a/api/test/proxy-implementations/proxy-tracer.test.ts b/api/test/proxy-implementations/proxy-tracer.test.ts
index 9170f3e44a..c6e2756ca5 100644
--- a/api/test/proxy-implementations/proxy-tracer.test.ts
+++ b/api/test/proxy-implementations/proxy-tracer.test.ts
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@
 import * as assert from 'assert';
 import * as sinon from 'sinon';
 import {
-  NoopSpan,
-  NOOP_SPAN,
   ProxyTracerProvider,
   SpanKind,
   TracerProvider,
@@ -29,6 +27,7 @@ import {
   ROOT_CONTEXT,
   SpanOptions,
 } from '../../src';
+import { NoopSpan } from '../../src/trace/NoopSpan';
 
 describe('ProxyTracer', () => {
   let provider: ProxyTracerProvider;
@@ -52,16 +51,14 @@ describe('ProxyTracer', () => {
     it('startSpan should return Noop Spans', () => {
       const tracer = provider.getTracer('test');
 
-      assert.deepStrictEqual(tracer.startSpan('span-name'), NOOP_SPAN);
-      assert.deepStrictEqual(
-        tracer.startSpan('span-name1', { kind: SpanKind.CLIENT }),
-        NOOP_SPAN
+      assert.ok(tracer.startSpan('span-name') instanceof NoopSpan);
+      assert.ok(
+        tracer.startSpan('span-name1', { kind: SpanKind.CLIENT }) instanceof
+          NoopSpan
       );
-      assert.deepStrictEqual(
-        tracer.startSpan('span-name2', {
-          kind: SpanKind.CLIENT,
-        }),
-        NOOP_SPAN
+      assert.ok(
+        tracer.startSpan('span-name2', { kind: SpanKind.CLIENT }) instanceof
+          NoopSpan
       );
     });
   });