diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/kernel/EditLib.java b/core/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/kernel/EditLib.java
index c08322ec61..ae70dcd5e6 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/kernel/EditLib.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/kernel/EditLib.java
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
 import org.apache.commons.jxpath.ri.parser.Token;
 import org.apache.commons.jxpath.ri.parser.XPathParser;
 import org.apache.commons.jxpath.ri.parser.XPathParserConstants;
+import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
 import org.fao.geonet.constants.Edit;
 import org.fao.geonet.constants.Geonet;
 import org.fao.geonet.domain.Pair;
@@ -583,7 +584,10 @@ public boolean addElementOrFragmentFromXpath(Element metadataRecord,
                                 }
                             } else if (propNode instanceof Attribute) {
                                 Element parent = ((Attribute) propNode).getParent();
-                                parent.removeAttribute(((Attribute) propNode).getName());
+                                Attribute targetAttribute = (Attribute) propNode;
+                                parent.removeAttribute(
+                                    targetAttribute.getName(),
+                                    targetAttribute.getNamespace());
                             }
                         } else {
                             // Update element content with node
@@ -736,6 +740,7 @@ private boolean createAndAddFromXPath(Element metadataRecord, MetadataSchema met
         boolean isAttribute = false;
         String currentElementName = "";
         String currentElementNamespacePrefix = "";
+        String currentAttributeNamespacePrefix = "";
 
         // Stop when token is null, start of an expression is found ie. "["
         //
@@ -758,10 +763,15 @@ private boolean createAndAddFromXPath(Element metadataRecord, MetadataSchema met
                 isAttribute = true;
             }
             // Match namespace prefix
-            if (currentToken.kind == XPathParserLocalConstants.TEXT && previousToken.kind == XPathParserConstants.SLASH) {
+            if (currentToken.kind == XPathParserLocalConstants.TEXT &&
+                    previousToken.kind == XPathParserConstants.SLASH) {
                 // get element namespace if element is text and previous was /
                 // means qualified name only is supported
                 currentElementNamespacePrefix = currentToken.image;
+            } else if (isAttribute &&
+                        previousToken.kind == XPathParserLocalConstants.TEXT &&
+                        currentToken.kind == XPathParserLocalConstants.NAMESPACE_SEP) {
+                currentAttributeNamespacePrefix = previousToken.image;
             } else if (currentToken.kind == XPathParserLocalConstants.TEXT &&
                 previousToken.kind == XPathParserLocalConstants.NAMESPACE_SEP) {
                 // get element name if element is text and previous was /
@@ -788,7 +798,9 @@ private boolean createAndAddFromXPath(Element metadataRecord, MetadataSchema met
                     } else {
                         LOGGER_ADD_ELEMENT.debug(" > add new node {} inserted in {}", qualifiedName, currentNode.getName());
 
-                        if (metadataSchema.getElementValues(qualifiedName, currentNode.getQualifiedName()) != null) {
+                        if (isAttribute) {
+                            existingElement = false; // Attribute is created and set after.
+                        } else if (metadataSchema.getElementValues(qualifiedName, currentNode.getQualifiedName()) != null) {
                             currentNode = addElement(metadataSchema, currentNode, qualifiedName);
                             existingElement = false;
                         } else {
@@ -833,7 +845,15 @@ private boolean createAndAddFromXPath(Element metadataRecord, MetadataSchema met
             doAddFragmentFromXpath(metadataSchema, value.getNodeValue(), currentNode);
         } else {
             if (isAttribute) {
-                currentNode.setAttribute(previousToken.image, value.getStringValue());
+                if (StringUtils.isNotEmpty(currentAttributeNamespacePrefix)) {
+                    currentNode.setAttribute(previousToken.image,
+                        value.getStringValue(),
+                        Namespace.getNamespace(currentAttributeNamespacePrefix,
+                            metadataSchema.getNS(currentAttributeNamespacePrefix)));
+                } else {
+                    currentNode.setAttribute(previousToken.image, value.getStringValue());
+                }
+
             } else {
                 currentNode.setText(value.getStringValue());
             }
diff --git a/services/src/test/java/org/fao/geonet/services/metadata/BatchEditsServiceTest.java b/services/src/test/java/org/fao/geonet/services/metadata/BatchEditsServiceTest.java
index 7c6ce23d64..08000955a7 100644
--- a/services/src/test/java/org/fao/geonet/services/metadata/BatchEditsServiceTest.java
+++ b/services/src/test/java/org/fao/geonet/services/metadata/BatchEditsServiceTest.java
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 import org.fao.geonet.domain.AbstractMetadata;
 import org.fao.geonet.kernel.datamanager.IMetadataUtils;
 import org.fao.geonet.kernel.mef.MEFLibIntegrationTest;
+import org.fao.geonet.schema.iso19115_3_2018.ISO19115_3_2018Namespaces;
 import org.fao.geonet.services.AbstractServiceIntegrationTest;
 import org.jdom.Attribute;
 import org.jdom.Element;
@@ -322,6 +323,66 @@ public void testUpdateRecordAddAttribute() throws Exception {
         Assert.assertEquals("value", ((Element) scope.get(0)).getAttributeValue("newAttribute"));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testUpdateRecordAddAndDeleteAttributeWithNamespace() throws Exception {
+        final String uuid = "db07463b-6769-401e-944b-f22e2e3bcc26";
+        BatchEditParameter[] listOfupdates = new BatchEditParameter[]{
+            new BatchEditParameter(
+                "/mdb:MD_Metadata/mdb:metadataScope/@gco:nilReason",
+                "<gn_add>withheld</gn_add>"
+            )
+        };
+
+        this.mockMvc = MockMvcBuilders.webAppContextSetup(this.wac).build();
+        this.mockHttpSession = loginAsAdmin();
+
+        Gson gson = new GsonBuilder()
+            .create();
+        JsonElement jsonEl = gson.toJsonTree(listOfupdates);
+
+        this.mockMvc.perform(put("/srv/api/records/batchediting?uuids=" + uuid)
+                .content(jsonEl.toString())
+                .contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
+                .session(this.mockHttpSession)
+                .accept(MediaType.parseMediaType("application/json")))
+            .andExpect(status().is(201));
+
+        AbstractMetadata updatedRecord = repository.findOneByUuid(uuid);
+        Element xml = Xml.loadString(updatedRecord.getData(), false);
+
+        List scope = org.fao.geonet.utils.Xml.selectNodes(xml,
+            "./mdb:metadataScope",
+            xml.getAdditionalNamespaces());
+        Assert.assertEquals("withheld", ((Element) scope.get(0)).getAttributeValue("nilReason", ISO19115_3_2018Namespaces.GCO));
+
+
+        listOfupdates = new BatchEditParameter[]{
+            new BatchEditParameter(
+                "/mdb:MD_Metadata/mdb:metadataScope/@gco:nilReason",
+                "<gn_delete/>"
+            )
+        };
+
+        jsonEl = gson.toJsonTree(listOfupdates);
+
+        this.mockMvc.perform(put("/srv/api/records/batchediting?uuids=" + uuid)
+                .content(jsonEl.toString())
+                .contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
+                .session(this.mockHttpSession)
+                .accept(MediaType.parseMediaType("application/json")))
+            .andExpect(status().is(201));
+
+        updatedRecord = repository.findOneByUuid(uuid);
+        xml = Xml.loadString(updatedRecord.getData(), false);
+
+        scope = org.fao.geonet.utils.Xml.selectNodes(xml,
+            "./mdb:metadataScope/gco:nilReason",
+            xml.getAdditionalNamespaces());
+        Assert.assertEquals(0, scope.size());
+
+    }
+
+
     @Test
     public void testUpdateRecordElement() throws Exception {
         final String uuid = "db07463b-6769-401e-944b-f22e2e3bcc26";