diff --git a/django/utils/cache.py b/django/utils/cache.py
index b1b35b5a05..04beccaef2 100644
--- a/django/utils/cache.py
+++ b/django/utils/cache.py
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ def patch_response_headers(response, cache_timeout=None):
         cache_timeout = settings.CACHE_MIDDLEWARE_SECONDS
     if cache_timeout < 0:
         cache_timeout = 0 # Can't have max-age negative
-    if not response.has_header('ETag'):
+    if settings.USE_ETAGS and not response.has_header('ETag'):
         response['ETag'] = '"%s"' % md5_constructor(response.content).hexdigest()
     if not response.has_header('Last-Modified'):
         response['Last-Modified'] = http_date()
diff --git a/docs/ref/settings.txt b/docs/ref/settings.txt
index 47fa486fe0..3a7d987d44 100644
--- a/docs/ref/settings.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/settings.txt
@@ -1825,8 +1825,9 @@ USE_ETAGS
 Default: ``False``
 
 A boolean that specifies whether to output the "Etag" header. This saves
-bandwidth but slows down performance. This is only used if ``CommonMiddleware``
-is installed (see :doc:`/topics/http/middleware`).
+bandwidth but slows down performance. This is used by the ``CommonMiddleware``
+(see :doc:`/topics/http/middleware`) and in the``Cache Framework``
+(see :doc:`/topics/cache`).
 
 .. setting:: USE_I18N
 
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/cache/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/cache/tests.py
index 82ab47c6c4..941ab70b8a 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/cache/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/cache/tests.py
@@ -1048,6 +1048,7 @@ class CacheI18nTest(unittest.TestCase):
         settings.CACHE_MIDDLEWARE_SECONDS = 60
         settings.CACHE_MIDDLEWARE_KEY_PREFIX="test"
         settings.CACHE_BACKEND='locmem:///'
+        settings.USE_ETAGS = True
         settings.USE_I18N = True
         en_message ="Hello world!"
         es_message ="Hola mundo!"
@@ -1058,6 +1059,14 @@ class CacheI18nTest(unittest.TestCase):
         # Check that we can recover the cache
         self.assertNotEqual(get_cache_data.content, None)
         self.assertEqual(en_message, get_cache_data.content)
+        # Check that we use etags
+        self.assertTrue(get_cache_data.has_header('ETag'))
+        # Check that we can disable etags
+        settings.USE_ETAGS = False
+        request._cache_update_cache = True
+        set_cache(request, 'en', en_message)
+        get_cache_data = FetchFromCacheMiddleware().process_request(request)
+        self.assertFalse(get_cache_data.has_header('ETag'))
         # change the session language and set content
         request = self._get_request_cache()
         set_cache(request, 'es', es_message)