diff --git a/ear/plugin.jelly b/ear/plugin.jelly
index 0b4cdd09..7e7e51d8 100644
--- a/ear/plugin.jelly
+++ b/ear/plugin.jelly
@@ -131,13 +131,23 @@
   <!--==================================================================-->
   <goal name="ear:generate-ear-descriptor" description="Generates the ear descriptor">
      
-     <ant:echo>Generating appxml file:"${maven.ear.appxml}"</ant:echo>
+     <ant:echo>Generating appxml file:"${maven.ear.appxml} version ${maven.ear.appxml.version}"</ant:echo>
      
      <j:file  name="${maven.ear.appxml}"
               outputMode="xml"
               prettyPrint="true"
               encoding="UTF-8"
      >
+
+        <j:switch on="${maven.ear.appxml.version}">
+              <j:case value="1.3">
+                 <x:doctype name="application" publicId="-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD J2EE Application 1.3//EN" systemId="http://java.sun.com/dtd/application_1_3.dtd"/>
+              </j:case>
+              <j:default>
+                 <x:doctype name="application" publicId="-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD J2EE Application 1.2//EN" systemId="http://java.sun.com/j2ee/dtds/application_1_2.dtd"/>
+              </j:default>
+        </j:switch>
+
         <x:element name="application">
         <x:element name="display-name">${maven.ear.displayname}</x:element>
         <j:forEach var="lib" items="${pom.artifacts}">
diff --git a/ear/plugin.properties b/ear/plugin.properties
index 6b6c089f..f02dbc3c 100644
--- a/ear/plugin.properties
+++ b/ear/plugin.properties
@@ -11,3 +11,4 @@ maven.ear.appxml=${maven.ear.descriptordir}/application.xml
 maven.ear.manifest=${maven.ear.descriptordir}/MANIFEST.MF
 maven.ear.appxml.generate=false
 maven.ear.displayname=${pom.id}
+maven.ear.appxml.version=1.3
diff --git a/ear/xdocs/properties.xml b/ear/xdocs/properties.xml
index ce456b41..b1b2b51e 100644
--- a/ear/xdocs/properties.xml
+++ b/ear/xdocs/properties.xml
@@ -42,6 +42,16 @@
             false
           </td>
         </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>maven.ear.appxml.version</td>
+          <td>Yes</td>
+          <td>
+            Inserts the doctype header depending on the specified version. Default is 1.3
+          </td>
+          <td>
+            false
+          </td>
+        </tr>
         <tr>
           <td>maven.ear.displayname</td>
           <td>Yes</td>