diff --git a/testing-common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/testing/provider/TestExporterCustomizerProvider.java b/testing-common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/testing/provider/TestExporterCustomizerProvider.java
index 8ceb11bace85..cc29c93af778 100644
--- a/testing-common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/testing/provider/TestExporterCustomizerProvider.java
+++ b/testing-common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/testing/provider/TestExporterCustomizerProvider.java
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@
 public class TestExporterCustomizerProvider implements DeclarativeConfigurationCustomizerProvider {
   @Override
   public void customize(DeclarativeConfigurationCustomizer customizer) {
+    if (TestSpanExporterComponentProvider.getSpanExporter() == null) {
+      // library test runner is not used, so we should not add the test exporters
+      return;
+    }
     customizer.addModelCustomizer(
         model -> {
           if (model.getTracerProvider() == null) {
diff --git a/testing-common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/testing/provider/TestSpanExporterComponentProvider.java b/testing-common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/testing/provider/TestSpanExporterComponentProvider.java
index 4f5d64df592a..a6ee9b91cc3d 100644
--- a/testing-common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/testing/provider/TestSpanExporterComponentProvider.java
+++ b/testing-common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/testing/provider/TestSpanExporterComponentProvider.java
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ public SpanExporter create(DeclarativeConfigProperties config) {
     return Objects.requireNonNull(spanExporter, "spanExporter must not be null");
   }
 
+  public static SpanExporter getSpanExporter() {
+    return spanExporter;
+  }
+
   public static void setSpanExporter(SpanExporter spanExporter) {
     TestSpanExporterComponentProvider.spanExporter = spanExporter;
   }