diff --git a/python/podio/__init__.py b/python/podio/__init__.py
index 4b6e3df0f..1cd0b0212 100644
--- a/python/podio/__init__.py
+++ b/python/podio/__init__.py
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@
 
 from .__version__ import __version__
 
-import ROOT
-
 from .podio_config_reader import *
 
+import ROOT
+
 # Track whether we were able to dynamially load the library that is built by
 # podio and enable certain features of the bindings only if they are actually
 # available.
@@ -23,10 +23,17 @@
 if _DYNAMIC_LIBS_LOADED:
   from .frame import Frame
   from . import root_io, sio_io, reading
-  from .test_utils import *
 
   from . import EventStore
 
   # Make sure that this module is actually usable as podio even though most of
   # it is dynamically populated by cppyy
   sys.modules["podio"] = podio
+
+  __all__ = [
+      "__version__",
+      "Frame",
+      "root_io",
+      "sio_io",
+      "reading",
+      ]
diff --git a/python/podio/test_EventStoreSio.py b/python/podio/test_EventStoreSio.py
index eaa330bd9..e86d25147 100644
--- a/python/podio/test_EventStoreSio.py
+++ b/python/podio/test_EventStoreSio.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 from podio.EventStore import EventStore
 from test_EventStore import EventStoreBaseTestCaseMixin
-from podio.test_utils import SKIP_SIO_TESTS
+from test_utils import SKIP_SIO_TESTS
 
 
 @unittest.skipIf(SKIP_SIO_TESTS, "no SIO support")
diff --git a/python/podio/test_Frame.py b/python/podio/test_Frame.py
index 7761deaf0..1255e3a8d 100644
--- a/python/podio/test_Frame.py
+++ b/python/podio/test_Frame.py
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@
 # using root_io as that should always be present regardless of which backends are built
 from podio.root_io import Reader
 
-from podio.test_utils import ExampleHitCollection
+from test_utils import ExampleHitCollection  # noqa: E402 # pylint: disable=wrong-import-position
+
 
 # The expected collections in each frame
 EXPECTED_COLL_NAMES = {
diff --git a/python/podio/test_ReaderSio.py b/python/podio/test_ReaderSio.py
index d9877e4da..e0d95da69 100644
--- a/python/podio/test_ReaderSio.py
+++ b/python/podio/test_ReaderSio.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 import unittest
 
 from test_Reader import ReaderTestCaseMixin, LegacyReaderTestCaseMixin
-from podio.test_utils import SKIP_SIO_TESTS
+from test_utils import SKIP_SIO_TESTS
 
 
 @unittest.skipIf(SKIP_SIO_TESTS, "no SIO support")
diff --git a/python/podio/test_utils.py b/python/podio/test_utils.py
index efd2d53f4..3fed5959a 100644
--- a/python/podio/test_utils.py
+++ b/python/podio/test_utils.py
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 import os
 import ROOT
 
-if ROOT.gSystem.Load("libTestDataModelDict.so") >= 0:  # noqa: E402
-  from ROOT import ExampleHitCollection, ExampleClusterCollection  # noqa: E402 # pylint: disable=wrong-import-position
+ROOT.gSystem.Load("libTestDataModelDict.so")  # noqa: E402
+from ROOT import ExampleHitCollection, ExampleClusterCollection  # noqa: E402 # pylint: disable=wrong-import-position
 
 from podio import Frame  # pylint: disable=wrong-import-position
 
diff --git a/tests/root_io/write_frame_root.py b/tests/root_io/write_frame_root.py
index 38bece171..e67a0ffea 100644
--- a/tests/root_io/write_frame_root.py
+++ b/tests/root_io/write_frame_root.py
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 """Script to write a Frame in ROOT format"""
 
-from podio import test_utils
+import os
+import sys
+
+sys.path.append(os.path.join(os.environ.get("PODIO_BASE"), "python", "podio"))
+
+import test_utils
 from podio.root_io import Writer
 
 test_utils.write_file(Writer, "example_frame_with_py.root")