diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 5cb5422661fb1ce747b8b04d1cff97a61ad14980..1b3bcb54b52dd48fb2a3a4980e6cb6ab2cc5f59d 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -22,9 +22,6 @@
        extracted before the specific public key.
      [Nils Larsch <nla@trustcenter.de>]
 
-  *) Add reference counting for EC_GROUP objects.
-     [Nils Larsch <nla@trustcenter.de>]
-
   *) Include some named elliptic curves.  These can be obtained from
      the new functions
           EC_GROUP_new_by_nid()
diff --git a/crypto/ec/ec_lcl.h b/crypto/ec/ec_lcl.h
index 9603e74e7d079cccc74c18b37f00be25c8f3bd0d..b93825524f7bddfe5e2094dde2818f5415d1bf59 100644
--- a/crypto/ec/ec_lcl.h
+++ b/crypto/ec/ec_lcl.h
@@ -166,7 +166,6 @@ struct ec_group_st {
 	EC_POINT *generator; /* optional */
 	BIGNUM order, cofactor;
 
-	int references;
 	int nid;
 
 	void *field_data1; /* method-specific (e.g., Montgomery structure) */
diff --git a/crypto/ec/ec_lib.c b/crypto/ec/ec_lib.c
index 2b1e49182e3ea2b53f9e1302073ba125032d5e30..3e372dbed3ca180071dcd2cf3a786475562363e2 100644
--- a/crypto/ec/ec_lib.c
+++ b/crypto/ec/ec_lib.c
@@ -96,8 +96,6 @@ EC_GROUP *EC_GROUP_new(const EC_METHOD *meth)
 
 	ret->nid = 0;	
 
-	ret->references = 1;
-
 	if (!meth->group_init(ret))
 		{
 		OPENSSL_free(ret);
@@ -110,12 +108,6 @@ EC_GROUP *EC_GROUP_new(const EC_METHOD *meth)
 
 void EC_GROUP_free(EC_GROUP *group)
 	{
-	int i;
-
-	i = CRYPTO_add(&group->references, -1, CRYPTO_LOCK_EC);
-	if (i > 0)
-		return;
-	
 	if (group->meth->group_finish != 0)
 		group->meth->group_finish(group);
 
@@ -127,12 +119,6 @@ void EC_GROUP_free(EC_GROUP *group)
 
 void EC_GROUP_clear_free(EC_GROUP *group)
 	{
-	int i;
-
-	i = CRYPTO_add(&group->references, -1, CRYPTO_LOCK_EC);
-	if (i > 0)
-		return;
-
 	if (group->meth->group_clear_finish != 0)
 		group->meth->group_clear_finish(group);
 	else if (group->meth != NULL && group->meth->group_finish != 0)
@@ -314,14 +300,14 @@ void EC_GROUP_clear_free_extra_data(EC_GROUP *group)
 	}
 
 void EC_GROUP_set_nid(EC_GROUP *group, int nid)
-{
+	{
 	group->nid = nid;
-}
+	}
 
 int EC_GROUP_get_nid(const EC_GROUP *group)
-{
+	{
 	return group->nid;
-}
+	}