diff --git a/api/hs-opentelemetry-api.cabal b/api/hs-opentelemetry-api.cabal
index 65d71da9..76cb67fe 100644
--- a/api/hs-opentelemetry-api.cabal
+++ b/api/hs-opentelemetry-api.cabal
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ library
       OpenTelemetry.Resource.Service
       OpenTelemetry.Resource.Telemetry
       OpenTelemetry.Resource.Webengine
-      OpenTelemetry.SemConvStabilityOptIn
+      OpenTelemetry.SemanticsConfig
       OpenTelemetry.Trace.Core
       OpenTelemetry.Trace.Id
       OpenTelemetry.Trace.Id.Generator
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ library
     , http-types
     , memory
     , mtl
+    , safe-exceptions
     , template-haskell
     , text
     , thread-utils-context ==0.3.*
@@ -126,6 +127,7 @@ test-suite hs-opentelemetry-api-test
     , http-types
     , memory
     , mtl
+    , safe-exceptions
     , template-haskell
     , text
     , thread-utils-context ==0.3.*
diff --git a/api/package.yaml b/api/package.yaml
index 77dce81d..980cf238 100644
--- a/api/package.yaml
+++ b/api/package.yaml
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ dependencies:
 - ghc-prim
 - unliftio-core
 - vector-builder
+- safe-exceptions
 
 library:
   source-dirs: src
diff --git a/api/src/OpenTelemetry/SemConvStabilityOptIn.hs b/api/src/OpenTelemetry/SemConvStabilityOptIn.hs
deleted file mode 100644
index b865f01c..00000000
--- a/api/src/OpenTelemetry/SemConvStabilityOptIn.hs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
-
-module OpenTelemetry.SemConvStabilityOptIn (
-  getSemConvStabilityOptIn,
-  SemConvStabilityOptIn (Stable, Both, Old),
-) where
-
-import qualified Data.Text as T
-import System.Environment (lookupEnv)
-
-
-data SemConvStabilityOptIn = Stable | Both | Old deriving (Show, Eq)
-
-
-parseSemConvStabilityOptIn :: Maybe String -> SemConvStabilityOptIn
-parseSemConvStabilityOptIn Nothing = Old
-parseSemConvStabilityOptIn (Just env)
-  | "http/dup" `elem` envs = Both
-  | "http" `elem` envs = Stable
-  | otherwise = Old
-  where
-    envs = fmap T.strip . T.splitOn "," . T.pack $ env
-
-
-getSemConvStabilityOptIn :: IO SemConvStabilityOptIn
-getSemConvStabilityOptIn = parseSemConvStabilityOptIn <$> lookupEnv "OTEL_SEMCONV_STABILITY_OPT_IN"
diff --git a/api/src/OpenTelemetry/SemanticsConfig.hs b/api/src/OpenTelemetry/SemanticsConfig.hs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..58860abd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/src/OpenTelemetry/SemanticsConfig.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE DeriveGeneric #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
+
+module OpenTelemetry.SemanticsConfig (
+  SemanticsOptions,
+  useStableHttpSemantics,
+  useOldHttpSemantics,
+  getSemanticsOptions,
+  getSemanticsOptions',
+) where
+
+import Control.Exception.Safe (throwIO, tryAny)
+import qualified Data.HashSet as HS
+import Data.Hashable (Hashable)
+import Data.IORef (newIORef, readIORef, writeIORef)
+import Data.Maybe (mapMaybe)
+import qualified Data.Text as T
+import GHC.Generics (Generic)
+import System.Environment (lookupEnv)
+import System.IO.Unsafe (unsafePerformIO)
+
+
+data SemanticsOption
+  = HttpStableSemantics
+  | HttpOldAndStableSemantics
+  deriving (Show, Eq, Generic)
+
+
+instance Hashable SemanticsOption
+
+
+newtype SemanticsOptions = SemanticsOptions (HS.HashSet SemanticsOption)
+
+
+semanticsOptionIsSet :: SemanticsOption -> SemanticsOptions -> Bool
+semanticsOptionIsSet option (SemanticsOptions options) = HS.member option options
+
+
+useStableHttpSemantics :: SemanticsOptions -> Bool
+useStableHttpSemantics options =
+  semanticsOptionIsSet HttpStableSemantics options
+    || semanticsOptionIsSet HttpOldAndStableSemantics options
+
+
+useOldHttpSemantics :: SemanticsOptions -> Bool
+useOldHttpSemantics options =
+  semanticsOptionIsSet HttpOldAndStableSemantics options
+    || not (semanticsOptionIsSet HttpStableSemantics options)
+
+
+parseSemanticsOption :: T.Text -> Maybe SemanticsOption
+parseSemanticsOption "http/dup" = Just HttpOldAndStableSemantics
+parseSemanticsOption "http" = Just HttpStableSemantics
+parseSemanticsOption _ = Nothing
+
+
+parseSemanticsOptions :: Maybe String -> SemanticsOptions
+parseSemanticsOptions Nothing = SemanticsOptions HS.empty
+parseSemanticsOptions (Just env) = SemanticsOptions $ HS.fromList $ mapMaybe parseSemanticsOption envs
+  where
+    envs = fmap T.strip . T.splitOn "," . T.pack $ env
+
+
+getSemanticsOptions' :: IO SemanticsOptions
+getSemanticsOptions' = parseSemanticsOptions <$> lookupEnv "OTEL_SEMCONV_STABILITY_OPT_IN"
+
+
+{- | Create a new memoized IO action using an 'IORef' under the surface. Note that
+the action may be run in multiple threads simultaneously, so this may not be
+thread safe (depending on the underlying action). For the sake of reading an environment
+variable and parsing some stuff, we don't have to be concerned about thread-safety.
+-}
+memoize :: IO a -> IO (IO a)
+memoize action = do
+  ref <- newIORef Nothing
+  pure $ do
+    mres <- readIORef ref
+    res <- case mres of
+      Just res -> pure res
+      Nothing -> do
+        res <- tryAny action
+        writeIORef ref $ Just res
+        pure res
+    either throwIO pure res
+
+
+-- This uses the global IORef trick:
+-- https://www.parsonsmatt.org/2021/04/21/global_ioref_in_template_haskell.html
+getSemanticsOptions :: IO SemanticsOptions
+getSemanticsOptions = unsafePerformIO $ memoize getSemanticsOptions
+{-# NOINLINE getSemanticsOptions #-}