diff --git a/Include/internal/pycore_codecs.h b/Include/internal/pycore_codecs.h
index dd4e175cf5eeda..5e2d5c5ce9d868 100644
--- a/Include/internal/pycore_codecs.h
+++ b/Include/internal/pycore_codecs.h
@@ -10,11 +10,15 @@ extern "C" {
 
 #include "pycore_lock.h"          // PyMutex
 
-/* Initialize codecs-related state for the given interpreter. Must be called
-   before any other _PyCodec* functions, and while only one thread is
-   active. */
+/* Initialize codecs-related state for the given interpreter, including
+   registering the first codec search function. Must be called before any other
+   PyCodec-related functions, and while only one thread is active. */
 extern PyStatus _PyCodec_InitRegistry(PyInterpreterState *interp);
 
+/* Finalize codecs-related state for the given interpreter. No PyCodec-related
+   functions other than PyCodec_Unregister() may be called after this. */
+extern void _PyCodec_Fini(PyInterpreterState *interp);
+
 extern PyObject* _PyCodec_Lookup(const char *encoding);
 
 /* Text codec specific encoding and decoding API.
diff --git a/Objects/object.c b/Objects/object.c
index 4c1676d77c471e..016d0e1ded92d8 100644
--- a/Objects/object.c
+++ b/Objects/object.c
@@ -473,6 +473,7 @@ void
 PyObject_CallFinalizer(PyObject *self)
 {
     PyTypeObject *tp = Py_TYPE(self);
+
     if (tp->tp_finalize == NULL)
         return;
     /* tp_finalize should only be called once. */
diff --git a/Python/codecs.c b/Python/codecs.c
index a02e20f4683452..bed245366f9234 100644
--- a/Python/codecs.c
+++ b/Python/codecs.c
@@ -20,17 +20,6 @@ const char *Py_hexdigits = "0123456789abcdef";
 
 /* --- Codec Registry ----------------------------------------------------- */
 
-/* Import the standard encodings package which will register the first
-   codec search function.
-
-   This is done in a lazy way so that the Unicode implementation does
-   not downgrade startup time of scripts not needing it.
-
-   ImportErrors are silently ignored by this function. Only one try is
-   made.
-
-*/
-
 int PyCodec_Register(PyObject *search_function)
 {
     PyInterpreterState *interp = _PyInterpreterState_GET();
@@ -1389,7 +1378,8 @@ static PyObject *surrogateescape_errors(PyObject *self, PyObject *exc)
     return PyCodec_SurrogateEscapeErrors(exc);
 }
 
-PyStatus _PyCodec_InitRegistry(PyInterpreterState *interp)
+PyStatus
+_PyCodec_InitRegistry(PyInterpreterState *interp)
 {
     static struct {
         const char *name;
@@ -1516,3 +1506,12 @@ PyStatus _PyCodec_InitRegistry(PyInterpreterState *interp)
 
     return PyStatus_Ok();
 }
+
+void
+_PyCodec_Fini(PyInterpreterState *interp)
+{
+    Py_CLEAR(interp->codecs.search_path);
+    Py_CLEAR(interp->codecs.search_cache);
+    Py_CLEAR(interp->codecs.error_registry);
+    interp->codecs.initialized = 0;
+}
diff --git a/Python/pystate.c b/Python/pystate.c
index b1c83cf2daa5be..811d192820bdc8 100644
--- a/Python/pystate.c
+++ b/Python/pystate.c
@@ -838,10 +838,7 @@ interpreter_clear(PyInterpreterState *interp, PyThreadState *tstate)
     }
 
     PyConfig_Clear(&interp->config);
-    Py_CLEAR(interp->codecs.search_path);
-    Py_CLEAR(interp->codecs.search_cache);
-    Py_CLEAR(interp->codecs.error_registry);
-    interp->codecs.initialized = 0;
+    _PyCodec_Fini(interp);
 
     assert(interp->imports.modules == NULL);
     assert(interp->imports.modules_by_index == NULL);