diff --git a/rcl/CMakeLists.txt b/rcl/CMakeLists.txt
index cbc267792..284337fdd 100644
--- a/rcl/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/rcl/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ project(rcl)
 find_package(ament_cmake_ros REQUIRED)
 
 find_package(rcl_interfaces REQUIRED)
+find_package(rcl_logging_interface REQUIRED)
 find_package(rcl_yaml_param_parser REQUIRED)
 find_package(rcutils REQUIRED)
 find_package(rmw REQUIRED)
@@ -69,6 +70,7 @@ target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} PUBLIC
 # specific order: dependents before dependencies
 ament_target_dependencies(${PROJECT_NAME}
   "rcl_interfaces"
+  "rcl_logging_interface"
   "rcl_yaml_param_parser"
   "rcutils"
   "rmw"
@@ -102,6 +104,7 @@ ament_export_targets(${PROJECT_NAME})
 
 ament_export_dependencies(ament_cmake)
 ament_export_dependencies(rcl_interfaces)
+ament_export_dependencies(rcl_logging_interface)
 ament_export_dependencies(rcl_yaml_param_parser)
 ament_export_dependencies(rmw_implementation)
 ament_export_dependencies(rmw)
diff --git a/rcl/include/rcl/logging_external_interface.h b/rcl/include/rcl/logging_external_interface.h
deleted file mode 100644
index 97961a772..000000000
--- a/rcl/include/rcl/logging_external_interface.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,92 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2018 Open Source Robotics Foundation, Inc.
-//
-// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-// You may obtain a copy of the License at
-//
-//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-//
-// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-// limitations under the License.
-
-#ifndef RCL__LOGGING_EXTERNAL_INTERFACE_H_
-#define RCL__LOGGING_EXTERNAL_INTERFACE_H_
-
-#include "rcl/macros.h"
-#include "rcl/types.h"
-#include "rcl/visibility_control.h"
-
-#ifdef __cplusplus
-extern "C" {
-#endif
-
-/// Initialize the external logging library.
-/**
- * \param[in] config_file The location of a config file that the external
- *   logging library should use to configure itself.
- *   If no config file is provided this will be set to an empty string.
- *   Must be a NULL terminated c string.
- * \param[in] allocator The allocator to use for memory allocation.  This is
- *   an rcutils_allocator_t rather than an rcl_allocator_t to ensure that the
- *   rcl_logging_* packages don't have a circular dependency back to rcl.
- * \todo TODO(clalancette) This API is marked RCL_PUBLIC, but is not built or
- *   exported from librcl.  Instead, these headers should be split into a
- *   separate package which is then depended on by both rcl and the
- *   rcl_logging_* implementations.  The duplicated headers from the
- *   implementations could then be removed.
- * \return RCL_RET_OK if initialized successfully, or
- * \return RCL_RET_ERROR if an unspecified error occurs.
- */
-RCL_PUBLIC
-RCL_WARN_UNUSED
-rcl_ret_t
-rcl_logging_external_initialize(const char * config_file, rcutils_allocator_t allocator);
-
-/// Free the resources allocated for the external logging system.
-/**
- * This puts the system into a state equivalent to being uninitialized.
- *
- * \return RCL_RET_OK if successfully shutdown, or
- * \return RCL_RET_ERROR if an unspecified error occurs.
- */
-RCL_PUBLIC
-RCL_WARN_UNUSED
-rcl_ret_t
-rcl_logging_external_shutdown();
-
-/// Log a message.
-/**
- * \param[in] severity The severity level of the message being logged.
- * \param[in] name The name of the logger, must either be a null terminated
- *   c string or NULL.
- *   If NULL or empty the root logger will be used.
- * \param[in] msg The message to be logged. Must be a null terminated c string.
- */
-RCL_PUBLIC
-void
-rcl_logging_external_log(int severity, const char * name, const char * msg);
-
-/// Set the severity level for a logger.
-/**
- * This function sets the severity level for the specified logger.
- * If the name provided is an empty string or NULL it will change the level of
- * the root logger.
- *
- * \param[in] name The name of the logger.
- *   Must be a NULL terminated c string or NULL.
- * \param[in] level The severity level to be used for the specified logger.
- * \return RCL_RET_OK if set successfully, or
- * \return RCL_RET_ERROR if an unspecified error occurs.
- */
-RCL_PUBLIC
-RCL_WARN_UNUSED
-rcl_ret_t rcl_logging_external_set_logger_level(const char * name, int level);
-
-#ifdef __cplusplus
-}
-#endif
-
-#endif  // RCL__LOGGING_EXTERNAL_INTERFACE_H_
diff --git a/rcl/package.xml b/rcl/package.xml
index cf8c08224..67c0c17aa 100644
--- a/rcl/package.xml
+++ b/rcl/package.xml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
   <build_export_depend>rmw</build_export_depend>
 
   <depend>rcl_interfaces</depend>
+  <depend>rcl_logging_interface</depend>
   <depend>rcl_logging_spdlog</depend> <!-- the default logging impl -->
   <depend>rcl_yaml_param_parser</depend>
   <depend>rcutils</depend>
diff --git a/rcl/src/rcl/logging.c b/rcl/src/rcl/logging.c
index 71c778388..d6e6d6070 100644
--- a/rcl/src/rcl/logging.c
+++ b/rcl/src/rcl/logging.c
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ extern "C"
 #include "rcl/allocator.h"
 #include "rcl/error_handling.h"
 #include "rcl/logging.h"
-#include "rcl/logging_external_interface.h"
+#include "rcl_logging_interface/rcl_logging_interface.h"
 #include "rcl/logging_rosout.h"
 #include "rcl/macros.h"
 #include "rcutils/logging.h"