diff --git a/contrib/import-checker.py b/contrib/import-checker.py
--- a/contrib/import-checker.py
+++ b/contrib/import-checker.py
@@ -411,7 +411,8 @@
       assign the symbol to a module-level variable. In addition, these imports
       must be performed before other local imports. This rule only
       applies to import statements outside of any blocks.
-    * Relative imports from the standard library are not allowed.
+    * Relative imports from the standard library are not allowed, unless that
+      library is also a local module.
     * Certain modules must be aliased to alternate names to avoid aliasing
       and readability problems. See `requirealias`.
     """
@@ -493,7 +494,10 @@
             # __future__ is special since it needs to come first and use
             # symbol import.
             if fullname != '__future__':
-                if not fullname or fullname in stdlib_modules:
+                if not fullname or (
+                    fullname in stdlib_modules
+                    and fullname not in localmods
+                    and fullname + '.__init__' not in localmods):
                     yield msg('relative import of stdlib module')
                 else:
                     seenlocal = fullname
diff --git a/tests/test-imports-checker.t b/tests/test-imports-checker.t
--- a/tests/test-imports-checker.t
+++ b/tests/test-imports-checker.t
@@ -125,7 +125,19 @@
   > from mercurial.node import hex
   > EOF
 
-  $ $PYTHON "$import_checker" testpackage*/*.py testpackage/subpackage/*.py
+# Shadowing a stdlib module to test "relative import of stdlib module" is
+# allowed if the module is also being checked
+
+  $ mkdir email
+  $ touch email/__init__.py
+  $ touch email/errors.py
+  $ cat > email/utils.py << EOF
+  > from __future__ import absolute_import
+  > from . import errors
+  > EOF
+
+  $ $PYTHON "$import_checker" testpackage*/*.py testpackage/subpackage/*.py \
+  >   email/*.py
   testpackage/importalias.py:2: ui module must be "as" aliased to uimod
   testpackage/importfromalias.py:2: ui from testpackage must be "as" aliased to uimod
   testpackage/importfromrelative.py:2: import should be relative: testpackage.unsorted