diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cc938d59..c2e099ce 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -325,3 +325,4 @@ lib64
 pyvenv.cfg
 /build/
 /node_modules/
+.temp
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c5009dd2..a3739584 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 
 # Model2owl directory
 MODEL2OWL_FOLDER?=.
+ABSOLUTE_MODEL2OWL_FOLDER?=$(shell realpath "${MODEL2OWL_FOLDER}")
 # rdflib version
 RDF_LIB_VERSION?=6.2.0
 #Saxon path
@@ -33,8 +34,10 @@ TURTLE_FILELIST=$(shell ls ${ONTOLOGY_FOLDER_PATH}/*.ttl)
 # Widoco variables
 WIDOCO_RDF_INPUT_FILE_PATH?=test/reasoning-investigation/model-2020-12-16/ePO_restrictions.rdf
 WIDOCO_OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH?=output/widoco
-NAMESPACES_XML_FILE_PATH?=${MODEL2OWL_FOLDER}/test/ePO-default-config/namespaces.xml
-NAMESPACES_AS_RDFPIPE_ARGS=$(shell ${MODEL2OWL_FOLDER}/scripts/get_namespaces.sh ${NAMESPACES_XML_FILE_PATH})
+NAMESPACES_USER_XML_FILE_PATH?=${MODEL2OWL_FOLDER}/test/ePO-default-config/namespaces.xml
+INTERM_FOLDER_PATH?=${ABSOLUTE_MODEL2OWL_FOLDER}/.temp
+ENRICHED_NAMESPACES_XML_PATH:=${INTERM_FOLDER_PATH}/enriched-namespaces.xml
+NAMESPACES_AS_RDFPIPE_ARGS=$(shell ${MODEL2OWL_FOLDER}/scripts/get_namespaces.sh ${ENRICHED_NAMESPACES_XML_PATH})
 RDF_XML_MIME_TYPE:='application/rdf+xml'
 TURTLE_MIME_TYPE:='turtle'
 
@@ -114,8 +117,10 @@ generate-convention-SVRL-report:
 #Example how to run transformation commands :
 # make owl-core XMI_INPUT_FILE_PATH=/home/mypc/work/model2owl/eNotice_CM.xml OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH=./my-folder
 owl-core:
+	@make gen-enriched-ns-file
 	@java -jar ${SAXON} -s:${XMI_INPUT_FILE_PATH} -xsl:${MODEL2OWL_FOLDER}/src/owl-core.xsl \
-		-o:${OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH}/${XMI_INPUT_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION}.tmp.rdf
+		-o:${OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH}/${XMI_INPUT_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION}.tmp.rdf \
+		enrichedNamespacesPath="${ENRICHED_NAMESPACES_XML_PATH}"
 	@make convert-between-serialization-formats INPUT_FORMAT=${RDF_XML_MIME_TYPE} \
 		OUTPUT_FORMAT=${RDF_XML_MIME_TYPE} \
 		FILE_PATH=${OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH}/${XMI_INPUT_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION}.tmp.rdf \
@@ -125,8 +130,10 @@ owl-core:
 	@rm -f ${OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH}/${XMI_INPUT_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION}.tmp.rdf
 
 owl-restrictions:
+	@make gen-enriched-ns-file
 	@java -jar ${SAXON} -s:${XMI_INPUT_FILE_PATH} -xsl:${MODEL2OWL_FOLDER}/src/owl-restrictions.xsl \
-		-o:${OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH}/${XMI_INPUT_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION}_restrictions.tmp.rdf
+		-o:${OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH}/${XMI_INPUT_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION}_restrictions.tmp.rdf \
+		enrichedNamespacesPath="${ENRICHED_NAMESPACES_XML_PATH}"
 	@make convert-between-serialization-formats INPUT_FORMAT=${RDF_XML_MIME_TYPE} \
 		OUTPUT_FORMAT=${RDF_XML_MIME_TYPE} \
 		FILE_PATH=${OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH}/${XMI_INPUT_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION}_restrictions.tmp.rdf \
@@ -136,8 +143,10 @@ owl-restrictions:
 	@rm -f ${OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH}/${XMI_INPUT_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION}_restrictions.tmp.rdf
 
 shacl:
+	@make gen-enriched-ns-file
 	@java -jar ${SAXON} -s:${XMI_INPUT_FILE_PATH} -xsl:${MODEL2OWL_FOLDER}/src/shacl-shapes.xsl \
-		-o:${OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH}/${XMI_INPUT_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION}_shapes.tmp.rdf
+		-o:${OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH}/${XMI_INPUT_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION}_shapes.tmp.rdf \
+		enrichedNamespacesPath="${ENRICHED_NAMESPACES_XML_PATH}"
 	@make convert-between-serialization-formats INPUT_FORMAT=${RDF_XML_MIME_TYPE} \
 		OUTPUT_FORMAT=${RDF_XML_MIME_TYPE} \
 		FILE_PATH=${OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH}/${XMI_INPUT_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION}_shapes.tmp.rdf \
@@ -146,6 +155,12 @@ shacl:
 	@ls -lh ${OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH}/${XMI_INPUT_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION}_shapes.rdf
 	@rm -f ${OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH}/${XMI_INPUT_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION}_shapes.tmp.rdf
 
+# Generate enriched namespaces XML file which contains user namespaces (defined
+# in namespaces.xml) and internal namespaces (such as core-shape)
+gen-enriched-ns-file:
+	@mkdir -p ${INTERM_FOLDER_PATH}
+	@java -jar ${SAXON} -s:${NAMESPACES_USER_XML_FILE_PATH} -xsl:${MODEL2OWL_FOLDER}/src/xml/enriched-namespaces.xsl \
+		-o:${ENRICHED_NAMESPACES_XML_PATH}
 
 # Combine xmi UML files
 # all files for combine should be in test/test-multi-xmi (or in XMI_MERGED_OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH)
@@ -220,10 +235,11 @@ convert-rdf-to-rdf:
 # 	OUTPUT_FILE_PATH: Path for the output file
 # 	INPUT_FORMAT: a MIME type of the given input RDF file
 # 	OUTPUT_FORMAT: a MIME type of any of the valid RDF serializations
-# 	USE_NAMESPACES: optional; if non-empty then namespaces (from the namespaces.xml file).
-#					This can be used if the input (FILE_PATH) doesn't include
-# 					namespaces we want to be applied (e.g. to have compact
-# 					instead of full URIs in the output file).
+#   USE_NAMESPACES: optional; if non-empty then namespaces (from the
+#                   enriched-namespaces.xml file). This can be used if the input
+#                   (FILE_PATH) doesn't include namespaces we want to be applied
+#                   (e.g. to have compact instead of full URIs in the output
+#                   file).
 #					
 # Supported MIME types: https://rdflib.readthedocs.io/en/7.0.0/plugin_serializers.html
 # 	
diff --git a/scripts/get_namespaces.sh b/scripts/get_namespaces.sh
index a08e37ec..f22d1d99 100755
--- a/scripts/get_namespaces.sh
+++ b/scripts/get_namespaces.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 # 
-# Gets namespaces from an XML file with the model2owl project namespaces
-# (`namespaces.xml` by default) and prepares argument list from them to be
-# used with `rdfpipe` tool. Uses Saxon installed in the project main directory.
+# Gets namespaces from an XML file with the model2owl project namespaces and
+# prepares argument list from them to be used with `rdfpipe` tool. Uses Saxon
+# installed in the project main directory.
 # 
 # USAGE: get_namespaces.sh NAMESPACES_XML_FILE_PATH
+PROJECT_DIR=$(dirname $(dirname $(realpath ${BASH_SOURCE[0]})))
+SAXON=${PROJECT_DIR}/saxon/saxon.jar
 
 if [ -z "$1" ]; then
 	echo "ERROR: path to *.xml file with namespaces not given."
@@ -17,7 +19,7 @@ namespaces_file_name=$(basename $namespaces_file_path)
 
 cd ${namespaces_file_dir}
 namespaces=$(
-    java -cp ../../saxon/saxon.jar net.sf.saxon.Query -s:${namespaces_file_name} \
+    java -cp $SAXON net.sf.saxon.Query -s:${namespaces_file_name} \
 		-qs:'for $x in /*:prefixes/*:prefix return concat(string($x/@name), "=", string($x/@value))' \
 		\!method=text
 )
diff --git a/src/common/checkers.xsl b/src/common/checkers.xsl
index b6ad192a..982063e7 100644
--- a/src/common/checkers.xsl
+++ b/src/common/checkers.xsl
@@ -512,15 +512,15 @@
     </xsl:function>
 
     <xd:doc>
-        <xd:desc> This function will check if a given list of namespaces are defined in
-            namespaces.xml file. If not all the namespaces were defined it will return a list with
-            those namespaces</xd:desc>
+        <xd:desc> This function will check if a given list of namespaces are
+        defined in enriched-namespaces.xml file. If not all the namespaces were
+        defined it will return a list with those namespaces</xd:desc>
         <xd:param name="listOfNamespaces"/>
     </xd:doc>
     <xsl:function name="f:isAllNamespacesDefined">
         <xsl:param name="listOfNamespaces"/>
         <xsl:variable name="definedNamespaces"
-            select="($namespacePrefixes/*:prefixes/*:prefix/@name)"/>
+            select="($internalNamespacePrefixes/*:prefixes/*:prefix/@name)"/>
         <xsl:variable name="listOfNotDefinedNamespaces"
             select="functx:value-except($listOfNamespaces, $definedNamespaces)"/>
         <xsl:sequence
diff --git a/src/common/utils.xsl b/src/common/utils.xsl
index 4d9a960c..89648327 100644
--- a/src/common/utils.xsl
+++ b/src/common/utils.xsl
@@ -21,6 +21,13 @@
     <xsl:import href="fetchers.xsl"/>
     <xsl:import href="functx-1.0.1-doc.xsl"/>
 
+    <xsl:param name="enrichedNamespacesPath"/>
+    <xsl:variable name="internalNamespacePrefixes" select="
+        if (boolean($enrichedNamespacesPath)) then
+            fn:doc($enrichedNamespacesPath)
+        else fn:error(xs:QName('missing-parameter'), 'enrichedNamespacesPath is not given.')
+    "/>
+
     <xd:doc>
         <xd:desc> Lookup a data-type in the xsd and rdf accepted data-type document (usually an
             external file with xsd and rdf data-types definitions) and return false or the data-type
@@ -61,7 +68,7 @@
     <xsl:function name="f:getNamespaceURI" as="xs:string">
         <xsl:param name="prefix"/>
 
-        <xsl:variable name="fetch" select="f:getNamespaceValues($prefix, $namespacePrefixes)"/>
+        <xsl:variable name="fetch" select="f:getNamespaceValues($prefix, $internalNamespacePrefixes)"/>
         <xsl:sequence
             select="
                 if (boolean($fetch)) then
@@ -492,4 +499,13 @@
         />
     </xsl:function>
 
+    <xd:doc>
+        <xd:desc>This template declares set of namespaces to be defined in top element of an output file</xd:desc>
+    </xd:doc>
+    <xsl:template name="namespacesDeclaration">
+        <xsl:for-each select="$internalNamespacePrefixes/*:prefixes/*:prefix">              
+            <xsl:namespace name="{./@name}" select="./@value"/>
+        </xsl:for-each>
+    </xsl:template>
+
 </xsl:stylesheet>
diff --git a/src/owl-core.xsl b/src/owl-core.xsl
index a2fb4041..f4d029be 100644
--- a/src/owl-core.xsl
+++ b/src/owl-core.xsl
@@ -46,9 +46,7 @@
     </xd:doc>
     <xsl:template match="/">
         <rdf:RDF>
-            <xsl:for-each select="$namespacePrefixes/*:prefixes/*:prefix">              
-                <xsl:namespace name="{./@name}" select="./@value"/>
-            </xsl:for-each>   
+            <xsl:call-template name="namespacesDeclaration"/>
             <xsl:call-template name="ontology-header"/>
             <xsl:apply-templates/>
             <xsl:call-template name="generalisationsWithDistinctTargetsInCoreLayer"/>
@@ -63,7 +61,7 @@
     <xsl:template name="ontology-header">
 
         <owl:Ontology rdf:about="{$coreArtefactURI}">         
-            <xsl:for-each select="$namespacePrefixes/*:prefixes/*:prefix/@importURI">              
+            <xsl:for-each select="$internalNamespacePrefixes/*:prefixes/*:prefix/@importURI">              
                 <owl:imports rdf:resource="{.}"/>
             </xsl:for-each>      
              
diff --git a/src/owl-restrictions.xsl b/src/owl-restrictions.xsl
index 22772ac9..fbcf6b2c 100644
--- a/src/owl-restrictions.xsl
+++ b/src/owl-restrictions.xsl
@@ -40,11 +40,7 @@
     </xd:doc>
     <xsl:template match="/">
         <rdf:RDF>
-            <xsl:for-each select="$namespacePrefixes/*:prefixes/*:prefix">              
-                <xsl:namespace name="{./@name}" select="./@value"/>
-            </xsl:for-each>
-            <xsl:namespace name="{fn:concat($moduleReference, '-res')}" select="fn:concat($base-restriction-uri,$defaultDelimiter)"/>
-            
+            <xsl:call-template name="namespacesDeclaration"/>            
             <xsl:call-template name="ontology-header"/>
             <xsl:apply-templates/>
             <xsl:call-template name="generalisationsWithDistinctTargetsInReasoningLayer"/>
@@ -58,7 +54,7 @@
     </xd:doc>
     <xsl:template name="ontology-header">
         <owl:Ontology rdf:about="{$restrictionsArtefactURI}">            
-            <xsl:for-each select="$namespacePrefixes/*:prefixes/*:prefix/@importURI">              
+            <xsl:for-each select="$internalNamespacePrefixes/*:prefixes/*:prefix/@importURI">              
                 <owl:imports rdf:resource="{.}"/>
             </xsl:for-each>      
             <owl:imports rdf:resource="{$coreArtefactURI}"/>
diff --git a/src/shacl-shapes.xsl b/src/shacl-shapes.xsl
index 00c0349c..7892e87a 100644
--- a/src/shacl-shapes.xsl
+++ b/src/shacl-shapes.xsl
@@ -44,13 +44,7 @@
     </xd:doc>
     <xsl:template match="/">
         <rdf:RDF>
-            <xsl:for-each select="$namespacePrefixes/*:prefixes/*:prefix">              
-                <xsl:namespace name="{./@name}" select="./@value"/>
-            </xsl:for-each>
-            <xsl:namespace name="{fn:concat($moduleReference, '-res')}" select="fn:concat($base-restriction-uri,$defaultDelimiter)"/>
-            <xsl:namespace name="{fn:concat($moduleReference, '-shape')}" select="fn:concat($base-shape-uri,$defaultDelimiter)"/>
-            
-            
+            <xsl:call-template name="namespacesDeclaration"/>
             <xsl:call-template name="ontology-header"/>
             <xsl:apply-templates/>
         </rdf:RDF>
@@ -62,7 +56,7 @@
     <xsl:template name="ontology-header">
         <owl:Ontology rdf:about="{$shapeArtefactURI}">
             
-            <xsl:for-each select="$namespacePrefixes/*:prefixes/*:prefix/@importURI">              
+            <xsl:for-each select="$internalNamespacePrefixes/*:prefixes/*:prefix/@importURI">              
                 <owl:imports rdf:resource="{.}"/>
             </xsl:for-each>      
             <owl:imports rdf:resource="{$coreArtefactURI}"/>
diff --git a/src/xml/enriched-namespaces.xsl b/src/xml/enriched-namespaces.xsl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b3d9c88e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/xml/enriched-namespaces.xsl
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<xsl:stylesheet xmlns="http://publications.europa.eu/ns/"
+    xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
+    xmlns:xd="http://www.oxygenxml.com/ns/doc/xsl" 
+    xmlns:fn="http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions"
+    exclude-result-prefixes="xd xsl fn"
+    version="3.0">
+
+    <xsl:import href="../../config-proxy.xsl"/>
+    <xsl:output version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" indent="yes" /> 
+
+    <xd:doc>
+        <xd:desc>
+            A template for generating enriched namespaces XML file that
+            contains internal model2owl namespaces which are constructed
+            based on the model2owl configuration.
+        </xd:desc>
+    </xd:doc>
+    <xsl:template match="/">
+        <prefixes>
+            <xsl:for-each select="/*:prefixes/*:prefix">
+                <prefix name="{./@name}" value="{./@value}">
+                    <xsl:if test="boolean(./@importURI)">
+                        <xsl:attribute name="importURI">
+                            <xsl:value-of select="./@importURI" />
+                        </xsl:attribute>
+                    </xsl:if>
+                </prefix>
+            </xsl:for-each>
+            <prefix name="{fn:concat($moduleReference, '-res')}" 
+                value="{fn:concat($base-restriction-uri,$defaultDelimiter)}"/>
+            <prefix name="{fn:concat($moduleReference, '-shape')}" 
+                value="{fn:concat($base-shape-uri,$defaultDelimiter)}"/>
+        </prefixes>
+    </xsl:template>
+</xsl:stylesheet>
diff --git a/test/unitTests/test-xml/test-enriched-namespaces.xspec b/test/unitTests/test-xml/test-enriched-namespaces.xspec
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ba778260
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unitTests/test-xml/test-enriched-namespaces.xspec
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<x:description xmlns:x="http://www.jenitennison.com/xslt/xspec"
+    xmlns:fn="http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions"
+    xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
+    stylesheet="../../../src/xml/enriched-namespaces.xsl">
+    
+    <x:scenario label="Scenario testing completeness of the generated enriched namespaces">
+        <x:context href="../../ePO-default-config/namespaces.xml" select="/"/>
+        <x:variable name="userNamespacesCnt" as="xs:integer"
+            href="../../ePO-default-config/namespaces.xml" 
+            select="fn:count(//*:prefixes/*:prefix)"/>
+        <x:expect label="there is 1 top-level prefix element" test="count(*:prefixes) = 1"/>
+        <x:expect label="there are user-defined namespaces" 
+            test="fn:count(*:prefixes/*:prefix) >= $userNamespacesCnt"/>
+        <x:expect label="there is an internal namespace" 
+            test="*:prefixes/*:prefix[@name = 'core-shape'] = 'http://data.europa.eu/a4g/data-shape#'"/> 
+    </x:scenario>
+</x:description>