diff --git a/config/alfresco/application-context-highlevel.xml b/config/alfresco/application-context-highlevel.xml
index 0359d3d76e..46bc0a679c 100644
--- a/config/alfresco/application-context-highlevel.xml
+++ b/config/alfresco/application-context-highlevel.xml
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
     <import resource="classpath:alfresco/preference-service-context.xml"/>
     <import resource="classpath:alfresco/swf-transform-context.xml"/>
     <import resource="classpath:alfresco/form-services-context.xml"/>
-    <import resource="classpath:alfresco/subscription-service-context.xml" />
     <import resource="classpath:alfresco/cmis-api-context.xml" />
     <import resource="classpath:alfresco/opencmis-context.xml" />
     <import resource="classpath:alfresco/period-type-context.xml" />
diff --git a/config/alfresco/bootstrap-context.xml b/config/alfresco/bootstrap-context.xml
index 9771e860a2..9be01982b6 100644
--- a/config/alfresco/bootstrap-context.xml
+++ b/config/alfresco/bootstrap-context.xml
@@ -614,6 +614,30 @@
             <value>true</value>
         </property>
     </bean>
+   
+    <!--  Subscription Service subsystem -->
+    <bean id="subscriptions" class="org.alfresco.repo.management.subsystems.ChildApplicationContextFactory" parent="abstractPropertyBackedBean">
+       <property name="category">
+          <value>Subscriptions</value>
+       </property>
+       <property name="autoStart">
+          <value>true</value>
+       </property>
+    </bean>
+   
+    <bean id="SubscriptionService" class="org.alfresco.repo.management.subsystems.SubsystemProxyFactory">
+       <property name="sourceApplicationContextFactory">
+          <ref bean="subscriptions" />
+       </property>
+       <property name="sourceBeanName">
+          <value>SubscriptionServiceImpl</value>
+       </property>
+       <property name="interfaces">
+          <list>
+             <value>org.alfresco.service.cmr.subscriptions.SubscriptionService</value>
+          </list>
+       </property>
+    </bean>
     
     <!-- Start the quartz scheduler -->
 
diff --git a/config/alfresco/subscription-service-context.xml b/config/alfresco/subsystems/Subscriptions/default/subscription-service-context.xml
similarity index 88%
rename from config/alfresco/subscription-service-context.xml
rename to config/alfresco/subsystems/Subscriptions/default/subscription-service-context.xml
index 71f9d3ed58..eb48196228 100644
--- a/config/alfresco/subscription-service-context.xml
+++ b/config/alfresco/subsystems/Subscriptions/default/subscription-service-context.xml
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
 <!DOCTYPE beans PUBLIC '-//SPRING//DTD BEAN//EN' 'http://www.springframework.org/dtd/spring-beans.dtd'>
 
 <beans>
+
 	<!-- Subscription service bean -->
-	<bean id="SubscriptionService" class="org.springframework.aop.framework.ProxyFactoryBean">
+	<bean id="SubscriptionServiceImpl" class="org.springframework.aop.framework.ProxyFactoryBean">
 		<property name="proxyInterfaces">
 			<value>org.alfresco.service.cmr.subscriptions.SubscriptionService</value>
 		</property>
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@
 		<property name="searchService" ref="SearchService" />
 		<property name="namespaceService" ref="NamespaceService" />
 		<property name="fileFolderService" ref="FileFolderService" />
+		<property name="active" value="${subscriptions.enabled}" />
 	</bean>
 
 </beans>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/alfresco/subsystems/Subscriptions/default/subscription-service.properties b/config/alfresco/subsystems/Subscriptions/default/subscription-service.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..edcf341a5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/alfresco/subsystems/Subscriptions/default/subscription-service.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# Enables the subscription service
+subscriptions.enabled=true
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/activities/feed/local/LocalFeedTaskProcessor.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/activities/feed/local/LocalFeedTaskProcessor.java
index d9db085995..f42d4a2dbd 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/activities/feed/local/LocalFeedTaskProcessor.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/activities/feed/local/LocalFeedTaskProcessor.java
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ public class LocalFeedTaskProcessor extends FeedTaskProcessor implements Applica
     {
         Set<String> result = new HashSet<String>();
 
-        if (subscriptionService.subscriptionsEnabled())
+        if (subscriptionService.isActive())
         {
             PagingFollowingResults fr = subscriptionService.getFollowers(userId, new PagingRequest(1000000, null));
 
diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/subscriptions/SubscriptionServiceImpl.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/subscriptions/SubscriptionServiceImpl.java
index fbd57f2fcc..d1c2973888 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/subscriptions/SubscriptionServiceImpl.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/subscriptions/SubscriptionServiceImpl.java
@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@ public class SubscriptionServiceImpl implements SubscriptionService
     protected NamespaceService namespaceService;
     protected FileFolderService fileFolderService;
 
+    protected boolean active;
+
     /**
      * Sets the subscriptions DAO.
      */
@@ -161,6 +163,11 @@ public class SubscriptionServiceImpl implements SubscriptionService
         this.fileFolderService = fileFolderService;
     }
 
+    public final void setActive(boolean active)
+    {
+        this.active = active;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public PagingSubscriptionResults getSubscriptions(String userId, SubscriptionItemTypeEnum type,
             PagingRequest pagingRequest)
@@ -352,9 +359,9 @@ public class SubscriptionServiceImpl implements SubscriptionService
     }
 
     @Override
-    public boolean subscriptionsEnabled()
+    public boolean isActive()
     {
-        return true;
+        return active;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -362,7 +369,7 @@ public class SubscriptionServiceImpl implements SubscriptionService
      */
     protected void checkEnabled()
     {
-        if (!subscriptionsEnabled())
+        if (!isActive())
         {
             throw new SubscriptionsDisabledException("subscription_service.err.disabled");
         }
diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/service/cmr/subscriptions/SubscriptionService.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/service/cmr/subscriptions/SubscriptionService.java
index b25f093d3d..5418ea12a6 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/service/cmr/subscriptions/SubscriptionService.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/service/cmr/subscriptions/SubscriptionService.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 package org.alfresco.service.cmr.subscriptions;
 
 import org.alfresco.query.PagingRequest;
+import org.alfresco.repo.management.subsystems.ActivateableBean;
 import org.alfresco.service.Auditable;
 import org.alfresco.service.NotAuditable;
 import org.alfresco.service.cmr.repository.NodeRef;
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ import org.alfresco.service.cmr.repository.NodeRef;
  * @author Florian Mueller
  * @since 4.0
  */
-public interface SubscriptionService
+public interface SubscriptionService extends ActivateableBean
 {
     // --- subscription ---
 
@@ -204,5 +205,5 @@ public interface SubscriptionService
      * Returns if subscription are enabled for this system.
      */
     @NotAuditable
-    boolean subscriptionsEnabled();
+    boolean isActive();
 }