diff --git a/ipojo/core/pom.xml b/ipojo/core/pom.xml
index d1b36f1..95107c5 100644
--- a/ipojo/core/pom.xml
+++ b/ipojo/core/pom.xml
@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@
 
   <properties>
     <!--
-        * 1.8.1 : change in the MethodInterceptor interface (FELIX-3144)
+        1.8.1:
+        * change in the MethodInterceptor interface (FELIX-3144)
+        * change in the Factory interface (FELIX-3190)
      -->
     <ipojo.package.version>1.8.1</ipojo.package.version>
   </properties>
diff --git a/ipojo/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/Factory.java b/ipojo/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/Factory.java
index 3ca69fe..f18c1d3 100644
--- a/ipojo/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/Factory.java
+++ b/ipojo/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/Factory.java
@@ -155,4 +155,10 @@
      */
     String getVersion();
 
+    /**
+     * Gets the component type metadata (Element - Attribute structure)
+     * @return the root element of the component metadata. The result must <b>not</b> be modified.
+     */
+    Element getComponentMetadata();
+
 }
diff --git a/ipojo/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/HandlerManagerFactory.java b/ipojo/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/HandlerManagerFactory.java
index e237d6f..8cef70e 100644
--- a/ipojo/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/HandlerManagerFactory.java
+++ b/ipojo/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/HandlerManagerFactory.java
@@ -175,14 +175,13 @@
 
     /**
      * Defines the handler type description.
-     * @see ComponentDescription
+     * @see ComponentTypeDescription
      */
     private class HandlerTypeDescription extends ComponentTypeDescription {
 
         /**
          * Creates the HandlerTypeDescription.
          * @param factory the factory.
-         * @see ComponentTypeDescription#ComponentTypeDescription(Factory)
          */
         public HandlerTypeDescription(IPojoFactory factory) {
             super(factory);
diff --git a/ipojo/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/IPojoFactory.java b/ipojo/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/IPojoFactory.java
index 49f1649..9fd8934 100644
--- a/ipojo/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/IPojoFactory.java
+++ b/ipojo/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/IPojoFactory.java
@@ -349,6 +349,15 @@
     }
 
     /**
+     * Gets the component metadata.
+     * @return the component metadata
+     * @see org.apache.felix.ipojo.Factory#getComponentMetadata()
+     */
+    public Element getComponentMetadata() {
+        return m_componentMetadata;
+    }
+
+    /**
      * Computes the list of missing handlers. This method is called with the monitor lock.
      * @return the list of missing handlers.
      * @see org.apache.felix.ipojo.Factory#getMissingHandlers()
diff --git a/ipojo/tests/core/factories/pom.xml b/ipojo/tests/core/factories/pom.xml
index d592ad5..b363e84 100644
--- a/ipojo/tests/core/factories/pom.xml
+++ b/ipojo/tests/core/factories/pom.xml
@@ -1,28 +1,28 @@
-<!--
-  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
-  or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
-  distributed with this work for additional information
-  regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
-  to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
-  "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
-  with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
-  software distributed under the License is distributed on an
-  "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
-  KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
-  specific language governing permissions and limitations
-  under the License.
--->
+<!--
+  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+  or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+  distributed with this work for additional information
+  regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+  to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+  "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+  with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+  software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+  "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+  KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+  specific language governing permissions and limitations
+  under the License.
+-->
 <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
   xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
   <parent>
     <groupId>ipojo.tests</groupId>
     <artifactId>ipojo.tests</artifactId>
     <version>1.5.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
-    <relativePath>../../pom.xml</relativePath>
+    <relativePath>../../pom.xml</relativePath>
   </parent>
 
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.felix</groupId>
       <artifactId>org.apache.felix.ipojo</artifactId>
+      <version>${ipojo.core.snapshot}</version>
+      <scope></scope>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.felix</groupId>
diff --git a/ipojo/tests/core/factories/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/test/scenarios/factories/ComponentDesc.java b/ipojo/tests/core/factories/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/test/scenarios/factories/ComponentDesc.java
index ce53f39..81bbc9e 100644
--- a/ipojo/tests/core/factories/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/test/scenarios/factories/ComponentDesc.java
+++ b/ipojo/tests/core/factories/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/ipojo/test/scenarios/factories/ComponentDesc.java
@@ -198,6 +198,9 @@
 		// Check Description equality
 		ComponentTypeDescription desc = (ComponentTypeDescription) sr_fooProvider2.getProperty("component.description");
         assertNotNull("check description equality", desc);
+
+        // Check that we have the complete metadata
+        assertNotNull(fooProvider2.getComponentMetadata());
 	}
 	
 	/**
@@ -263,6 +266,9 @@
 		// Check Description equality
 		ComponentTypeDescription desc = (ComponentTypeDescription) sr_fooProviderDyn2.getProperty("component.description");
 		assertNotNull("check description equality", desc);
+
+        // Check that we have the complete metadata
+        assertNotNull(fooProvider2.getComponentMetadata());
 	}
 	
 	/**
@@ -346,6 +352,8 @@
         ComponentTypeDescription desc = (ComponentTypeDescription) sr_foobarProvider.getProperty("component.description");
 		assertNotNull("check description equality", desc);
 
+        // Check that we have the complete metadata
+        assertNotNull(foobarProvider.getComponentMetadata());
 	}
 	
 	private boolean containsSpecification(String value, Element[] array) {