Right, this is unspecified. We would need to raise this issue with the Java EE group, as this group doesn't have control over ordering of Java EE component startup. In CDI 1.1 we have introduced an event that is guaranteed to fire after all components have started, but before the application is put into service, which I think addresses your use case. If however you actually want to use the ServletContext contextInitialized event in exactly the way you describe (to solve some other use case I'm not aware of ;-), then we would need to address the actual component start ordering. If this is the case, file a CDI tracking issue, and I can raise this with the Java EE group @ Oracle. Pete On 19 Oct 2011, at 07:46, Jens Schumann wrote: