diff --git a/cmd/importverifier/BUILD b/cmd/importverifier/BUILD
index f0bd155478..b3c71160e6 100644
--- a/cmd/importverifier/BUILD
+++ b/cmd/importverifier/BUILD
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ go_library(
     name = "go_default_library",
     srcs = ["importverifier.go"],
     importpath = "k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/importverifier",
+    deps = ["//vendor/gopkg.in/yaml.v2:go_default_library"],
 )
 
 filegroup(
diff --git a/cmd/importverifier/importverifier.go b/cmd/importverifier/importverifier.go
index b3601c24c7..584a74bdb3 100644
--- a/cmd/importverifier/importverifier.go
+++ b/cmd/importverifier/importverifier.go
@@ -27,15 +27,17 @@ import (
 	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
+
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
 )
 
 // Package is a subset of cmd/go.Package
 type Package struct {
-	Dir          string   `json:",omitempty"` // directory containing package sources
-	ImportPath   string   `json:",omitempty"` // import path of package in dir
-	Imports      []string `json:",omitempty"` // import paths used by this package
-	TestImports  []string `json:",omitempty"` // imports from TestGoFiles
-	XTestImports []string `json:",omitempty"` // imports from XTestGoFiles
+	Dir          string   `yaml:",omitempty"` // directory containing package sources
+	ImportPath   string   `yaml:",omitempty"` // import path of package in dir
+	Imports      []string `yaml:",omitempty"` // import paths used by this package
+	TestImports  []string `yaml:",omitempty"` // imports from TestGoFiles
+	XTestImports []string `yaml:",omitempty"` // imports from XTestGoFiles
 }
 
 // ImportRestriction describes a set of allowable import
@@ -44,17 +46,17 @@ type ImportRestriction struct {
 	// BaseDir is the root of the package tree that is
 	// restricted by this configuration, given as a
 	// relative path from the root of the repository
-	BaseDir string `json:"baseImportPath"`
+	BaseDir string `yaml:"baseImportPath"`
 	// IgnoredSubTrees are roots of sub-trees of the
 	// BaseDir for which we do not want to enforce
 	// any import restrictions whatsoever, given as
 	// relative paths from the root of the repository
-	IgnoredSubTrees []string `json:"ignoredSubTrees,omitempty"`
+	IgnoredSubTrees []string `yaml:"ignoredSubTrees,omitempty"`
 	// AllowedImports are roots of package trees that
 	// are allowed to be imported from the BaseDir,
 	// given as paths that would be used in a Go
 	// import statement
-	AllowedImports []string `json:"allowedImports"`
+	AllowedImports []string `yaml:"allowedImports"`
 }
 
 // ForbiddenImportsFor determines all of the forbidden
@@ -164,7 +166,7 @@ var rootPackage string
 
 func main() {
 	if len(os.Args) != 3 {
-		log.Fatalf("Usage: %s ROOT RESTRICTIONS.json", os.Args[0])
+		log.Fatalf("Usage: %s ROOT RESTRICTIONS.yaml", os.Args[0])
 	}
 
 	rootPackage = os.Args[1]
@@ -214,7 +216,7 @@ func loadImportRestrictions(configFile string) ([]ImportRestriction, error) {
 	}
 
 	var importRestrictions []ImportRestriction
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(config, &importRestrictions); err != nil {
+	if err := yaml.Unmarshal(config, &importRestrictions); err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal from %s: %v", configFile, err)
 	}
 
diff --git a/hack/import-restrictions.json b/hack/import-restrictions.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 76e4e3b6b3..0000000000
--- a/hack/import-restrictions.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,92 +0,0 @@
-[
-  {
-    "baseImportPath": "./vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/",
-    "allowedImports": [
-      "k8s.io/apimachinery",
-      "k8s.io/kube-openapi"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "baseImportPath": "./vendor/k8s.io/api/",
-    "allowedImports": [
-      "k8s.io/api",
-      "k8s.io/apimachinery"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "baseImportPath": "./vendor/k8s.io/code-generator/",
-    "ignoredSubTrees": [
-      "./vendor/k8s.io/code-generator/_test"
-    ],
-    "allowedImports": [
-      "k8s.io/gengo",
-      "k8s.io/code-generator",
-      "k8s.io/kube-openapi"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "baseImportPath": "./vendor/k8s.io/client-go/",
-    "allowedImports": [
-      "k8s.io/api",
-      "k8s.io/apimachinery",
-      "k8s.io/client-go"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "baseImportPath": "./vendor/k8s.io/apiserver/",
-    "allowedImports": [
-      "k8s.io/api",
-      "k8s.io/apimachinery",
-      "k8s.io/apiserver",
-      "k8s.io/client-go",
-      "k8s.io/kube-openapi"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "baseImportPath": "./vendor/k8s.io/metrics/",
-    "allowedImports": [
-      "k8s.io/api",
-      "k8s.io/apimachinery",
-      "k8s.io/client-go",
-      "k8s.io/metrics"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "baseImportPath": "./vendor/k8s.io/kube-aggregator/",
-    "allowedImports": [
-      "k8s.io/api",
-      "k8s.io/apimachinery",
-      "k8s.io/apiserver",
-      "k8s.io/client-go",
-      "k8s.io/kube-aggregator",
-      "k8s.io/kube-openapi"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "baseImportPath": "./vendor/k8s.io/sample-apiserver/",
-    "allowedImports": [
-      "k8s.io/api",
-      "k8s.io/apimachinery",
-      "k8s.io/apiserver",
-      "k8s.io/client-go",
-      "k8s.io/sample-apiserver"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "baseImportPath": "./vendor/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/",
-    "allowedImports": [
-      "k8s.io/api",
-      "k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver",
-      "k8s.io/apimachinery",
-      "k8s.io/apiserver",
-      "k8s.io/client-go"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "baseImportPath": "./vendor/k8s.io/kube-openapi/",
-    "allowedImports": [
-      "k8s.io/kube-openapi",
-      "k8s.io/gengo"
-    ]
-  }
-]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hack/import-restrictions.yaml b/hack/import-restrictions.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..692485df1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/import-restrictions.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+- baseImportPath: "./vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/"
+  allowedImports:
+  - k8s.io/apimachinery
+  - k8s.io/kube-openapi
+
+- baseImportPath: "./vendor/k8s.io/api/"
+  allowedImports:
+  - k8s.io/api
+  - k8s.io/apimachinery
+
+- baseImportPath: "./vendor/k8s.io/code-generator/"
+  ignoredSubTrees:
+  - "./vendor/k8s.io/code-generator/_test"
+  allowedImports:
+  - k8s.io/gengo
+  - k8s.io/code-generator
+  - k8s.io/kube-openapi
+
+- baseImportPath: "./vendor/k8s.io/client-go/"
+  allowedImports:
+  - k8s.io/api
+  - k8s.io/apimachinery
+  - k8s.io/client-go
+
+- baseImportPath: "./vendor/k8s.io/apiserver/"
+  allowedImports:
+  - k8s.io/api
+  - k8s.io/apimachinery
+  - k8s.io/apiserver
+  - k8s.io/client-go
+  - k8s.io/kube-openapi
+
+- baseImportPath: "./vendor/k8s.io/metrics/"
+  allowedImports:
+  - k8s.io/api
+  - k8s.io/apimachinery
+  - k8s.io/client-go
+  - k8s.io/metrics
+
+- baseImportPath: "./vendor/k8s.io/kube-aggregator/"
+  allowedImports:
+  - k8s.io/api
+  - k8s.io/apimachinery
+  - k8s.io/apiserver
+  - k8s.io/client-go
+  - k8s.io/kube-aggregator
+  - k8s.io/kube-openapi
+
+- baseImportPath: "./vendor/k8s.io/sample-apiserver/"
+  allowedImports:
+  - k8s.io/api
+  - k8s.io/apimachinery
+  - k8s.io/apiserver
+  - k8s.io/client-go
+  - k8s.io/sample-apiserver
+
+- baseImportPath: "./vendor/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/"
+  allowedImports:
+  - k8s.io/api
+  - k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver
+  - k8s.io/apimachinery
+  - k8s.io/apiserver
+  - k8s.io/client-go
+
+- baseImportPath: "./vendor/k8s.io/kube-openapi/"
+  allowedImports:
+  - k8s.io/kube-openapi
+  - k8s.io/gengo
diff --git a/hack/verify-imports.sh b/hack/verify-imports.sh
index 7cb756f1a1..a845fa2a0b 100755
--- a/hack/verify-imports.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-imports.sh
@@ -38,4 +38,4 @@ if [[ ! -x "$importverifier" ]]; then
   exit 1
 fi
 
-"${importverifier}" "k8s.io/" "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/import-restrictions.json"
+"${importverifier}" "k8s.io/" "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/import-restrictions.yaml"