diff --git a/google/iam/__init__.py b/google/iam/__init__.py
deleted file mode 100644
index ad1e9d1..0000000
--- a/google/iam/__init__.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright 2022 Google LLC
-#
-# Licensed 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.
-
-__import__("pkg_resources").declare_namespace(__name__)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index ef0abae..d8d9ac9 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -39,15 +39,10 @@
 
 packages = [
     package
-    for package in setuptools.PEP420PackageFinder.find()
+    for package in setuptools.find_namespace_packages()
     if package.startswith("google")
 ]
 
-namespaces = ["google"]
-if "google.iam" in packages:
-    namespaces.append("google.iam")
-
-
 setuptools.setup(
     name=name,
     version=version,
@@ -74,7 +69,6 @@
     platforms="Posix; MacOS X; Windows",
     packages=packages,
     python_requires=">=3.7",
-    namespace_packages=namespaces,
     install_requires=dependencies,
     include_package_data=True,
     zip_safe=False,
diff --git a/google/__init__.py b/tests/unit/test_google_iam.py
similarity index 66%
rename from google/__init__.py
rename to tests/unit/test_google_iam.py
index ad1e9d1..fabccb4 100644
--- a/google/__init__.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_google_iam.py
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-# Copyright 2022 Google LLC
+# Copyright 2023 Google LLC
 #
 # Licensed 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
+#      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,
@@ -12,4 +12,9 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-__import__("pkg_resources").declare_namespace(__name__)
+from google.iam.v1 import policy_pb2
+
+def test_create_policy():
+    # Check that the import works
+    # and that an Policy instance can be instantiated
+    policy_pb2.Policy()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_packaging.py b/tests/unit/test_packaging.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f239c8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_packaging.py
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Copyright 2023 Google LLC
+#
+# Licensed 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.
+
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+
+def test_namespace_package_compat(tmp_path):
+    # The ``google`` namespace package should not be masked
+    # by the presence of ``grpc-google-iam-v1``.
+    google = tmp_path / "google"
+    google.mkdir()
+    google.joinpath("othermod.py").write_text("")
+    env = dict(os.environ, PYTHONPATH=str(tmp_path))
+    cmd = [sys.executable, "-m", "google.othermod"]
+    subprocess.check_call(cmd, env=env)
+
+    # The ``google.iam`` namespace package should not be masked
+    # by the presence of ``grpc-google-iam-v1``.
+    google_iam = tmp_path / "google" / "iam"
+    google_iam.mkdir()
+    google_iam.joinpath("othermod.py").write_text("")
+    env = dict(os.environ, PYTHONPATH=str(tmp_path))
+    cmd = [sys.executable, "-m", "google.iam.othermod"]
+    subprocess.check_call(cmd, env=env)