diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bf8d42c37b..7a099a9b89 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ _Note: Gaps between patch versions are faulty/broken releases._
 ## 3.0.0
 
  * **Breaking Change**
-  * `allowImportExportEverywhere` acorn option has been disabled for spec compliancy so imports and exports can **only** be present at the top level.
+  * Imports and exports are now illegal anywhere except the root level by default. Set `modules` to [loose mode](http://6to5.org/docs/usage/loose) to allow them everywhere.
   * Caching is now always enabled for the require hook. It also now no longer caches require resolutions.
   * `ignoreRegex` fallback has now been dropped from the require hook. `register(/foo/);`, `register({ ignoreRegex: /foo/ })` -> `register({ ignore: /foo/ })`.
   * Optional fast transformer backwards compatibility support has been removed. Use [loose mode](https://6to5.org/docs/usage/loose).
diff --git a/lib/6to5/file.js b/lib/6to5/file.js
index 5d561ac1a0..2bc26ee611 100644
--- a/lib/6to5/file.js
+++ b/lib/6to5/file.js
@@ -244,7 +244,10 @@ File.prototype.parse = function (code) {
 
   code = this.addCode(code);
 
-  return util.parse(this.opts, code, function (tree) {
+  var opts = this.opts;
+  opts.looseModules = this.isLoose("modules");
+
+  return util.parse(opts, code, function (tree) {
     self.transform(tree);
     return self.generate();
   });
diff --git a/lib/6to5/util.js b/lib/6to5/util.js
index 11301f16b4..27a790141c 100644
--- a/lib/6to5/util.js
+++ b/lib/6to5/util.js
@@ -218,14 +218,15 @@ exports.parse = function (opts, code, callback) {
     var tokens   = [];
 
     var ast = acorn.parse(code, {
-      allowReturnOutsideFunction: true,
-      ecmaVersion:                opts.experimental ? 7 : 6,
-      playground:                 opts.playground,
-      strictMode:                 true,
-      onComment:                  comments,
-      locations:                  true,
-      onToken:                    tokens,
-      ranges:                     true
+      allowImportExportEverywhere: opts.looseModules,
+      allowReturnOutsideFunction:  true,
+      ecmaVersion:                 opts.experimental ? 7 : 6,
+      playground:                  opts.playground,
+      strictMode:                  true,
+      onComment:                   comments,
+      locations:                   true,
+      onToken:                     tokens,
+      ranges:                      true
     });
 
     estraverse.attachComments(ast, comments, tokens);