diff --git a/microprofile/telemetry/src/main/java/io/helidon/microprofile/telemetry/OpenTelemetryProducer.java b/microprofile/telemetry/src/main/java/io/helidon/microprofile/telemetry/OpenTelemetryProducer.java
index 1c5a086e5ab..a672f16d70b 100644
--- a/microprofile/telemetry/src/main/java/io/helidon/microprofile/telemetry/OpenTelemetryProducer.java
+++ b/microprofile/telemetry/src/main/java/io/helidon/microprofile/telemetry/OpenTelemetryProducer.java
@@ -90,8 +90,8 @@ private void init() {
 
         mpConfig.getOptionalValue(EXPORTER_NAME_PROPERTY, String.class).ifPresent(e -> exporterName = e);
 
-        // If there is an OTEL Agent – delegate everything to it.
-        if (HelidonOpenTelemetry.AgentDetector.isAgentPresent(config)) {
+        // If there is an OTEL Agent – or otherwise we should use a pre-existing global OTel instance - delegate to it.
+        if (HelidonOpenTelemetry.AgentDetector.useExistingGlobalOpenTelemetry(config)) {
             openTelemetry =  GlobalOpenTelemetry.get();
         } else {
 
diff --git a/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/pom.xml b/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/pom.xml
index 18758ae13f1..d8bdf95fa07 100644
--- a/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/pom.xml
+++ b/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/pom.xml
@@ -83,6 +83,11 @@
             <artifactId>junit-jupiter-api</artifactId>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
+            <artifactId>junit-jupiter-params</artifactId>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.hamcrest</groupId>
             <artifactId>hamcrest-all</artifactId>
diff --git a/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/src/main/java/io/helidon/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/HelidonOpenTelemetry.java b/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/src/main/java/io/helidon/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/HelidonOpenTelemetry.java
index 133710df4a9..23474c8f918 100644
--- a/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/src/main/java/io/helidon/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/HelidonOpenTelemetry.java
+++ b/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/src/main/java/io/helidon/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/HelidonOpenTelemetry.java
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ public final class HelidonOpenTelemetry {
     public static final String IO_OPENTELEMETRY_JAVAAGENT = "io.opentelemetry.javaagent";
 
     static final String UNSUPPORTED_OPERATION_MESSAGE = "Span listener attempted to invoke an illegal operation";
+    static final String USE_EXISTING_OTEL = "io.helidon.telemetry.otel.use-existing-instance";
 
     private static final System.Logger LOGGER = System.getLogger(HelidonOpenTelemetry.class.getName());
     private static final LazyValue<List<SpanListener>> SPAN_LISTENERS =
@@ -144,6 +145,18 @@ public static boolean isAgentPresent(Config config) {
             return false;
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Return whether the user has requested that Helidon use an existing global OpenTelemetry instance rather than
+         * creating one itself; specifying that the OpenTelemetry agent is present automatically implies using the agent's
+         * existing instance.
+         *
+         * @param config configuration potentially containing the setting
+         * @return true if Helidon is configured to use an existing global OpenTelemetry instance; false otherwise
+         */
+        public static boolean useExistingGlobalOpenTelemetry(Config config) {
+            return isAgentPresent(config) || config.get(USE_EXISTING_OTEL).asBoolean().orElse(false);
+        }
+
         private static boolean checkSystemProperties() {
             return System.getProperties().stringPropertyNames()
                     .stream()
diff --git a/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/src/test/java/io/helidon/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/AgentDetectorTest.java b/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/src/test/java/io/helidon/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/AgentDetectorTest.java
index d631b36112d..d2a00e62706 100644
--- a/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/src/test/java/io/helidon/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/AgentDetectorTest.java
+++ b/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/src/test/java/io/helidon/tracing/providers/opentelemetry/AgentDetectorTest.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2023 Oracle and/or its affiliates.
+ * Copyright (c) 2023, 2024 Oracle and/or its affiliates.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -17,15 +17,19 @@
 package io.helidon.tracing.providers.opentelemetry;
 
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
 
 import io.helidon.config.Config;
 import io.helidon.config.ConfigSources;
 
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.Arguments;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.MethodSource;
 
 import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
-
+import static org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.Arguments.arguments;
 
 /**
  * Check Agent Detector working correctly.
@@ -56,4 +60,26 @@ void checkEnvVariable(){
         boolean present = HelidonOpenTelemetry.AgentDetector.isAgentPresent(config);
         assertThat(present, is(true));
     }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @MethodSource
+    void checkUsePreexistingOTel(String testDescr, Config config, boolean expectedResult) {
+        assertThat(testDescr, HelidonOpenTelemetry.AgentDetector.useExistingGlobalOpenTelemetry(config), is(expectedResult));
+    }
+
+    static Stream<Arguments> checkUsePreexistingOTel() {
+        return Stream.of(arguments("OTel agent present true",
+                                   Config.just(ConfigSources.create(Map.of(HelidonOpenTelemetry.OTEL_AGENT_PRESENT_PROPERTY, "true"))),
+                                   true),
+                         arguments("OTel agent present not specified, use existing OTel true",
+                                   Config.just(ConfigSources.create(Map.of(HelidonOpenTelemetry.USE_EXISTING_OTEL, "true"))),
+                                   true),
+                         arguments("Neither config value set",
+                                   Config.empty(),
+                                   false),
+                         arguments("OTel agent present but NOT to use existing OTel instance",
+                                   Config.just(ConfigSources.create(Map.of(HelidonOpenTelemetry.OTEL_AGENT_PRESENT_PROPERTY, "true",
+                                                                           HelidonOpenTelemetry.USE_EXISTING_OTEL, "false"))),
+                                   true));
+    }
 }