Referencing a cache configuration does not need a type-safe construct. Its a lookup into a map, and its the bean providing that map that would enforce type safety using a Cache interface. There is no point to a @Cache annotation carrying implementation details. Nothing needs to implement the @Cache annotation in core, the Cache interface implementation is needed, and this is outside of an ejb provider class. The same applies to @Pool. Its a separate question as to whether you still want these type of annotations as part of the container implementation spi. I don't think they are that useful as its just as easy to configure aspects via xml. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4102755#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...