diff --git a/blocks/blog_tags/block_blog_tags.php b/blocks/blog_tags/block_blog_tags.php
index 612e03c5b74..09ed5043ac9 100644
--- a/blocks/blog_tags/block_blog_tags.php
+++ b/blocks/blog_tags/block_blog_tags.php
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ class block_blog_tags extends block_base {
 
         global $CFG, $SITE, $COURSE, $USER;
 
-        if (empty($CFG->bloglevel)) {
+        if (empty($CFG->usetags) || empty($CFG->bloglevel)) {
             $this->content->text = '';
             return $this->content;
         }
diff --git a/blog/edit_form.php b/blog/edit_form.php
index 9160ffbb1bb..9510100a9df 100644
--- a/blog/edit_form.php
+++ b/blog/edit_form.php
@@ -32,43 +32,46 @@ class blog_edit_form extends moodleform {
         $mform->addElement('select', 'publishstate', get_string('publishto', 'blog'), blog_applicable_publish_states());
         $mform->setHelpButton('publishstate', array('publish_state', get_string('helppublish', 'blog'), 'blog'));
 
-        $mform->addElement('header', 'tagshdr', get_string('tags', 'blog'));
+        
 
-        $mform->createElement('select', 'otags', get_string('otags','blog'));
+        if (!empty($CFG->usetags)) {
+            $mform->addElement('header', 'tagshdr', get_string('tags', 'blog'));
+            $mform->createElement('select', 'otags', get_string('otags','blog'));
 
-        $js_escape = array(
-            "\r"    => '\r',
-            "\n"    => '\n',
-            "\t"    => '\t',
-            "'"     => "\\'",
-            '"'     => '\"',
-            '\\'    => '\\\\'
-        );
+            $js_escape = array(
+                "\r"    => '\r',
+                "\n"    => '\n',
+                "\t"    => '\t',
+                "'"     => "\\'",
+                '"'     => '\"',
+                '\\'    => '\\\\'
+            );
 
-        $otagsselEl =& $mform->addElement('select', 'otags', get_string('otags', 'blog'), array(), 'size="5"');
-        $otagsselEl->setMultiple(true);
-        $this->otags_select_setup();
+            $otagsselEl =& $mform->addElement('select', 'otags', get_string('otags', 'blog'), array(), 'size="5"');
+            $otagsselEl->setMultiple(true);
+            $this->otags_select_setup();
 
-        if (has_capability('moodle/blog:manageofficialtags', $sitecontext)){
-            $deleteotagsmsg = strtr(get_string('deleteotagswarn', 'blog'), $js_escape);
-            $mform->registerNoSubmitButton('deleteotags');
-            $mform->addElement('submit', 'deleteotags', get_string('delete'),
-                            array('onclick'=>"return confirm('$deleteotagsmsg');"));
-            $mform->disabledIf('deleteotags', 'otags[]', 'noitemselected');
-            $mform->setAdvanced('deleteotags');
+            if (has_capability('moodle/blog:manageofficialtags', $sitecontext)){
+                $deleteotagsmsg = strtr(get_string('deleteotagswarn', 'blog'), $js_escape);
+                $mform->registerNoSubmitButton('deleteotags');
+                $mform->addElement('submit', 'deleteotags', get_string('delete'),
+                                array('onclick'=>"return confirm('$deleteotagsmsg');"));
+                $mform->disabledIf('deleteotags', 'otags[]', 'noitemselected');
+                $mform->setAdvanced('deleteotags');
 
-            $mform->registerNoSubmitButton('addotags');
-            $otagsgrp = array();
-            $otagsgrp[] =& $mform->createElement('text', 'otagsadd', get_string('addotags', 'blog'));
-            $otagsgrp[] =& $mform->createElement('submit', 'addotags', get_string('add'));
-            $mform->addGroup($otagsgrp, 'otagsgrp', get_string('addotags','blog'), array(' '), false);
-            $mform->setType('otagsadd', PARAM_NOTAGS);
-            $mform->setAdvanced('otagsgrp');
+                $mform->registerNoSubmitButton('addotags');
+                $otagsgrp = array();
+                $otagsgrp[] =& $mform->createElement('text', 'otagsadd', get_string('addotags', 'blog'));
+                $otagsgrp[] =& $mform->createElement('submit', 'addotags', get_string('add'));
+                $mform->addGroup($otagsgrp, 'otagsgrp', get_string('addotags','blog'), array(' '), false);
+                $mform->setType('otagsadd', PARAM_NOTAGS);
+                $mform->setAdvanced('otagsgrp');
+            }
+
+            $mform->addElement('textarea', 'ptags', get_string('ptags', 'blog'), array('cols'=>'40', 'rows'=>'5'));
+            $mform->setType('ptagsadd', PARAM_NOTAGS);
         }
-
-        $mform->addElement('textarea', 'ptags', get_string('ptags', 'blog'), array('cols'=>'40', 'rows'=>'5'));
-        $mform->setType('ptagsadd', PARAM_NOTAGS);
-
+        
         $this->add_action_buttons();
 
         $mform->addElement('hidden', 'action');
diff --git a/blog/lib.php b/blog/lib.php
index 42ff8db33a5..6690034bca9 100755
--- a/blog/lib.php
+++ b/blog/lib.php
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@
                                      WHERE t.id = ti.tagid
                                      AND ti.entryid = '.$blogEntry->id)) {
         */
-        if ($blogtags = get_item_tags('blog', $blogEntry->id)) {
+        if (!empty($CFG->usetags) && ($blogtags = get_item_tags('blog', $blogEntry->id))) {
             echo '<div class="tags">';
             if ($blogtags) {
                 print_string('tags');