diff --git a/opentelemetry/CHANGELOG.md b/opentelemetry/CHANGELOG.md
index dbe051e88a..00ab0be983 100644
--- a/opentelemetry/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/opentelemetry/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
   - Align `Baggage.remove()` signature with `.get()` to take the key as a reference
   - `Baggage` can't be retrieved from the `Context` directly anymore and needs to be accessed via `context.baggage()`
   - `with_baggage()` and `current_with_baggage()` override any existing `Baggage` in the `Context`
+  - `Baggage` keys can't be empty and only allow ASCII visual chars, except `"(),/:;<=>?@[\]{}` (see [RFC7230, Section 3.2.6](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7230#section-3.2.6))
 - Changed `Context` to use a stack to properly handle out of order dropping of `ContextGuard`. This imposes a limit of `65535` nested contexts on a single thread. See #[2378](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-rust/pull/2284) and #[1887](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-rust/issues/1887).
 - Added additional `name: Option<&str>` parameter to the `event_enabled` method
   on the `Logger` trait. This allows implementations (SDK, processor, exporters)
diff --git a/opentelemetry/benches/baggage.rs b/opentelemetry/benches/baggage.rs
index 1854fcd2e3..706353ba5f 100644
--- a/opentelemetry/benches/baggage.rs
+++ b/opentelemetry/benches/baggage.rs
@@ -11,10 +11,10 @@ const MAX_KEY_VALUE_PAIRS: usize = 64;
 // Apple M4 Pro
 //     Total Number of Cores:	14 (10 performance and 4 efficiency)
 // Results:
-// set_baggage_static_key_value 12 ns
-// set_baggage_static_key 28 ns
-// set_baggage_dynamic 60 ns
-// set_baggage_dynamic_with_metadata 112 ns
+// set_baggage_static_key_value 14 ns
+// set_baggage_static_key 26 ns
+// set_baggage_dynamic 54 ns
+// set_baggage_dynamic_with_metadata 75 ns
 
 fn criterion_benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
     set_baggage_static_key_value(c);
diff --git a/opentelemetry/src/baggage.rs b/opentelemetry/src/baggage.rs
index 69447f5c36..43d796bfd6 100644
--- a/opentelemetry/src/baggage.rs
+++ b/opentelemetry/src/baggage.rs
@@ -29,6 +29,12 @@ static DEFAULT_BAGGAGE: OnceLock<Baggage> = OnceLock::new();
 const MAX_KEY_VALUE_PAIRS: usize = 64;
 const MAX_LEN_OF_ALL_PAIRS: usize = 8192;
 
+// https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7230#section-3.2.6
+const INVALID_ASCII_KEY_CHARS: [u8; 17] = [
+    b'(', b')', b',', b'/', b':', b';', b'<', b'=', b'>', b'?', b'@', b'[', b'\\', b']', b'{',
+    b'}', b'"',
+];
+
 /// Returns the default baggage, ensuring it is initialized only once.
 #[inline]
 fn get_default_baggage() -> &'static Baggage {
@@ -160,16 +166,14 @@ impl Baggage {
         S: Into<BaggageMetadata>,
     {
         let (key, value, metadata) = (key.into(), value.into(), metadata.into());
-        if !key.as_str().is_ascii() {
-            return None;
-        }
-        let entry_content_len =
-            key_value_metadata_bytes_size(key.as_str(), value.as_str(), metadata.as_str());
         let entries_count = self.inner.len();
         match self.inner.entry(key) {
             Entry::Occupied(mut occupied_entry) => {
+                let key_str = occupied_entry.key().as_str();
+                let entry_content_len =
+                    key_value_metadata_bytes_size(key_str, value.as_str(), metadata.as_str());
                 let prev_content_len = key_value_metadata_bytes_size(
-                    occupied_entry.key().as_str(),
+                    key_str,
                     occupied_entry.get().0.as_str(),
                     occupied_entry.get().1.as_str(),
                 );
@@ -181,9 +185,15 @@ impl Baggage {
                 Some(occupied_entry.insert((value, metadata)))
             }
             Entry::Vacant(vacant_entry) => {
+                let key_str = vacant_entry.key().as_str();
+                if !Self::is_key_valid(key_str.as_bytes()) {
+                    return None;
+                }
                 if entries_count == MAX_KEY_VALUE_PAIRS {
                     return None;
                 }
+                let entry_content_len =
+                    key_value_metadata_bytes_size(key_str, value.as_str(), metadata.as_str());
                 let new_content_len = self.kv_content_len + entry_content_len;
                 if new_content_len > MAX_LEN_OF_ALL_PAIRS {
                     return None;
@@ -215,11 +225,18 @@ impl Baggage {
     pub fn iter(&self) -> Iter<'_> {
         self.into_iter()
     }
+
+    fn is_key_valid(key: &[u8]) -> bool {
+        !key.is_empty()
+            && key
+                .iter()
+                .all(|b| b.is_ascii_graphic() && !INVALID_ASCII_KEY_CHARS.contains(b))
+    }
 }
 
 /// Get the number of bytes for one key-value pair
 fn key_value_metadata_bytes_size(key: &str, value: &str, metadata: &str) -> usize {
-    key.bytes().len() + value.bytes().len() + metadata.bytes().len()
+    key.len() + value.len() + metadata.len()
 }
 
 /// An iterator over the entries of a [`Baggage`].
@@ -619,4 +636,21 @@ mod tests {
         baggage.remove("foo");
         assert!(baggage.is_empty());
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_insert_invalid_key() {
+        let mut baggage = Baggage::default();
+
+        // empty
+        baggage.insert("", "1");
+        assert!(baggage.is_empty());
+
+        // non-ascii
+        baggage.insert("Grüße", "1");
+        assert!(baggage.is_empty());
+
+        // invalid ascii chars
+        baggage.insert("(example)", "1");
+        assert!(baggage.is_empty());
+    }
 }