diff --git a/distarray/globalapi/tests/test_distributed_io.py b/distarray/globalapi/tests/test_distributed_io.py
index c95abdcf..8fdbce85 100644
--- a/distarray/globalapi/tests/test_distributed_io.py
+++ b/distarray/globalapi/tests/test_distributed_io.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 
 from distarray.externals.six.moves import range
 
-from distarray.testing import import_or_skip, DefaultContextTestCase
+from distarray.testing import import_parallel_h5py, DefaultContextTestCase
 from distarray.globalapi.distarray import DistArray
 from distarray.globalapi.maps import Distribution
 
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ class TestHdf5FileSave(DefaultContextTestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
         super(TestHdf5FileSave, self).setUp()
-        self.h5py = import_or_skip('h5py')
+        self.h5py = import_parallel_h5py()
         self.output_path = self.context.apply(engine_temp_path, ('.hdf5',),
                                               targets=[self.context.targets[0]])[0]
 
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ class TestHdf5FileLoad(DefaultContextTestCase):
 
     @classmethod
     def setUpClass(cls):
-        cls.h5py = import_or_skip('h5py')
+        cls.h5py = import_parallel_h5py()
         super(TestHdf5FileLoad, cls).setUpClass()
         cls.output_path = cls.context.apply(engine_temp_path, ('.hdf5',),
                                             targets=[cls.context.targets[0]])[0]
diff --git a/distarray/localapi/tests/paralleltest_io.py b/distarray/localapi/tests/paralleltest_io.py
index a114f989..b3e988e9 100644
--- a/distarray/localapi/tests/paralleltest_io.py
+++ b/distarray/localapi/tests/paralleltest_io.py
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
 import numpy
 
 from numpy.testing import assert_allclose, assert_equal
-from distarray.testing import ParallelTestCase, import_or_skip, temp_filepath
+from distarray.testing import (ParallelTestCase, import_parallel_h5py,
+                               temp_filepath)
 from distarray.localapi import LocalArray, ndenumerate
 from distarray.localapi import (save_dnpy, load_dnpy, save_hdf5, load_hdf5,
                              load_npy)
@@ -188,7 +189,7 @@ class TestHdf5FileSave(ParallelTestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
         self.rank = self.comm.Get_rank()
-        self.h5py = import_or_skip('h5py')
+        self.h5py = import_parallel_h5py()
         self.key = "data"
 
         # set up a common file to work with
@@ -235,7 +236,7 @@ class TestHdf5FileLoad(ParallelTestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
         self.rank = self.comm.Get_rank()
-        self.h5py = import_or_skip('h5py')
+        self.h5py = import_parallel_h5py()
         self.key = "data"
         self.expected = numpy.arange(20).reshape(2, 10)
 
diff --git a/distarray/testing.py b/distarray/testing.py
index e25f4986..7bd1df6e 100644
--- a/distarray/testing.py
+++ b/distarray/testing.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 from distarray.externals import six
 from distarray.externals import protocol_validator
 from distarray.globalapi.context import Context, ContextCreationError
-from distarray.globalapi.ipython_utils import IPythonClient
 from distarray.error import InvalidCommSizeError
 from distarray.localapi.mpiutils import MPI, create_comm_of_size
 
@@ -91,6 +90,32 @@ def import_or_skip(name):
         raise unittest.SkipTest(errmsg)
 
 
+def import_parallel_h5py():
+    """Import h5py built against parallel HDF5. Raise SkipTest on failure.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    h5py_module: module object
+        Module object imported by importlib.
+
+    Raises
+    ------
+    unittest.SkipTest
+        If the attempted import raises an ImportError.
+
+    Examples
+    --------
+    >>> h5py = import_parallel_h5py('h5py')
+    >>> h5py.get_config()
+    <h5py.h5.H5PYConfig at 0x103dd5a78>
+
+    """
+    h5py = import_or_skip('h5py')
+    if not h5py.get_config().mpi:
+        errmsg = 'h5py not built against parallel hdf5... skipping.'
+        raise unittest.SkipTest(errmsg)
+
+
 def comm_null_passes(fn):
     """Decorator. If `self.comm` is COMM_NULL, pass.