diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4537ad3f8b..81298cf3ff 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- Add `registry` keyword argument to `PrometheusMetricReader` to allow passing a custom Prometheus registry
+  ([#5055](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/5055))
+- Enabled the flake8-tidy-import plugins rules for the ruff linter. These rules throw warnings for relative imports in the modules. 
 - `opentelemetry-sdk`: Add `create_logger_provider`/`configure_logger_provider` to declarative file configuration, enabling LoggerProvider instantiation from config files without reading env vars
   ([#4990](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/4990))
 - `opentelemetry-sdk`: Add `service` resource detector support to declarative file configuration via `detection_development.detectors[].service`
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-prometheus/src/opentelemetry/exporter/prometheus/__init__.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-prometheus/src/opentelemetry/exporter/prometheus/__init__.py
index 608d8f6d30..005c0d0c27 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-prometheus/src/opentelemetry/exporter/prometheus/__init__.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-prometheus/src/opentelemetry/exporter/prometheus/__init__.py
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@
 from os import environ
 from typing import Deque, Dict, Iterable, Sequence, Tuple, Union
 
-from prometheus_client import start_http_server
+from prometheus_client import CollectorRegistry, start_http_server
 from prometheus_client.core import (
     REGISTRY,
     CounterMetricFamily,
@@ -135,7 +135,10 @@ class PrometheusMetricReader(MetricReader):
     """Prometheus metric exporter for OpenTelemetry."""
 
     def __init__(
-        self, disable_target_info: bool = False, prefix: str = ""
+        self,
+        disable_target_info: bool = False,
+        prefix: str = "",
+        registry: CollectorRegistry = REGISTRY,
     ) -> None:
         super().__init__(
             preferred_temporality={
@@ -151,7 +154,8 @@ def __init__(
         self._collector = _CustomCollector(
             disable_target_info=disable_target_info, prefix=prefix
         )
-        REGISTRY.register(self._collector)
+        self._registry = registry
+        self._registry.register(self._collector)
         self._collector._callback = self.collect
         self._prefix = prefix
 
@@ -166,7 +170,7 @@ def _receive_metrics(
         self._collector.add_metrics_data(metrics_data)
 
     def shutdown(self, timeout_millis: float = 30_000, **kwargs) -> None:
-        REGISTRY.unregister(self._collector)
+        self._registry.unregister(self._collector)
 
 
 class _CustomCollector:
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-prometheus/tests/test_prometheus_exporter.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-prometheus/tests/test_prometheus_exporter.py
index 26770c9e1f..59cb1dc465 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-prometheus/tests/test_prometheus_exporter.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-prometheus/tests/test_prometheus_exporter.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 from unittest import TestCase
 from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
 
-from prometheus_client import generate_latest
+from prometheus_client import CollectorRegistry, generate_latest
 from prometheus_client.core import (
     CounterMetricFamily,
     GaugeMetricFamily,
@@ -55,6 +55,18 @@ def setUp(self):
             side_effect=self._mock_registry_register,
         )
 
+    def test_custom_registry(self):
+        with self._registry_register_patch:
+            custom_registry = CollectorRegistry()
+            reader = PrometheusMetricReader(registry=custom_registry)
+            # global REGISTRY should NOT be used
+            self._mock_registry_register.assert_not_called()
+            # check custom_registry was registered
+            self.assertIn(
+                reader._collector, custom_registry._collector_to_names
+            )
+            reader.shutdown()
+
     def verify_text_format(
         self, metric: Metric, expect_prometheus_text: str, prefix: str = ""
     ) -> None: