diff --git a/rosetta-lang/src/main/java/com/regnosys/rosetta/config/file/RosettaConfigurationFileProvider.java b/rosetta-lang/src/main/java/com/regnosys/rosetta/config/file/RosettaConfigurationFileProvider.java
index 2d8a10972..b75ecaf67 100644
--- a/rosetta-lang/src/main/java/com/regnosys/rosetta/config/file/RosettaConfigurationFileProvider.java
+++ b/rosetta-lang/src/main/java/com/regnosys/rosetta/config/file/RosettaConfigurationFileProvider.java
@@ -1,14 +1,34 @@
 package com.regnosys.rosetta.config.file;
 
+
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
+import java.util.Optional;
 
 import javax.inject.Provider;
 
 public class RosettaConfigurationFileProvider implements Provider<URL> {	
 	public static final String FILE_NAME = "rosetta-config.yml";
+	private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(RosettaConfigurationFileProvider.class);
+	public static final String ROSETTA_CONFIG_FILE_PROPERTY = "rosetta.config.file";
 
 	@Override
 	public URL get() {
-		return Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResource(FILE_NAME);
+		return Optional.ofNullable(System.getProperty(ROSETTA_CONFIG_FILE_PROPERTY))
+				.map(this::getUrl)
+				.orElse(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResource(FILE_NAME));
 	}
+
+	private URL getUrl(String rosettaConfigFile) {
+        try {
+            return Paths.get(rosettaConfigFile).toUri().toURL();
+        } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
+			LOGGER.error("System variable path to rosetta config file invalid: {}", rosettaConfigFile, e);
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/rosetta-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/regnosys/rosetta/maven/AbstractRosettaGeneratorMojo.java b/rosetta-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/regnosys/rosetta/maven/AbstractRosettaGeneratorMojo.java
index 786c343e9..6d36b4c8a 100644
--- a/rosetta-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/regnosys/rosetta/maven/AbstractRosettaGeneratorMojo.java
+++ b/rosetta-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/regnosys/rosetta/maven/AbstractRosettaGeneratorMojo.java
@@ -17,9 +17,12 @@
 package com.regnosys.rosetta.maven;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Set;
 
+import com.regnosys.rosetta.config.file.RosettaConfigurationFileProvider;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
 import org.apache.maven.plugins.annotations.Parameter;
 import org.eclipse.xtext.builder.standalone.LanguageAccess;
@@ -38,6 +41,9 @@
 // which makes this implementation too hacky.
 public abstract class AbstractRosettaGeneratorMojo extends AbstractXtextGeneratorMojo {
 
+	@Parameter(property = "rosetta.config.file")
+	private String rosettaConfigFile;
+
 	@Parameter(defaultValue = "true")
 	boolean addOutputDirectoriesToCompileSourceRoots = Boolean.TRUE;
 	
@@ -76,6 +82,9 @@ protected Module createModule() {
 	
 	@Override
 	protected void internalExecute() throws MojoExecutionException {
+		if (rosettaConfigFile != null) {
+			System.setProperty(RosettaConfigurationFileProvider.ROSETTA_CONFIG_FILE_PROPERTY, rosettaConfigFile);
+		}
 		if (addOutputDirectoriesToCompileSourceRoots) {
 			configureMavenOutputs();
 		}