Automatic bean validation ( JSR-303 ) happens during entity manager flush operation. According to the JPA2 spec it should happen upon lifecycle validation events. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Key: HHH-5696 URL: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/hibernate/browse/HHH-5696 Project: Hibernate Core Issue Type: Bug Components: core Affects Versions: 3.6.0 Environment: hibernate-core-3.6.0.Final, hibernate-validator-4.1.0.Final Reporter: Alex Robert -- This message is automatically generated by JIRA. - If you think it was sent incorrectly contact one of the administrators: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/hibernate/secure/Administrators.... - For more information on JIRA, see: http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira