diff --git a/extensions/replication/tasks/ReplicateObject.js b/extensions/replication/tasks/ReplicateObject.js
index 7ed282b79..c05f6788d 100644
--- a/extensions/replication/tasks/ReplicateObject.js
+++ b/extensions/replication/tasks/ReplicateObject.js
@@ -466,6 +466,8 @@ class ReplicateObject extends BackbeatTask {
             ContentLength: partSize,
             ContentMD5: partObj.getPartETag(),
             Body: incomingMsg,
+            // destination bucket has to be versioning enabled.
+            VersioningRequired: true,
         });
         attachReqUids(destReq, log);
         const writeStartTime = Date.now();
@@ -537,6 +539,8 @@ class ReplicateObject extends BackbeatTask {
             ContentLength: Buffer.byteLength(mdBlob),
             Body: mdBlob,
             ReplicationContent: replicationContent,
+            // destination bucket has to be versioning enabled.
+            VersioningRequired: true,
         });
         attachReqUids(req, log);
         const writeStartTime = Date.now();
diff --git a/lib/clients/backbeat-2017-07-01.api.json b/lib/clients/backbeat-2017-07-01.api.json
index cc5fd2bf9..1bfcb4424 100644
--- a/lib/clients/backbeat-2017-07-01.api.json
+++ b/lib/clients/backbeat-2017-07-01.api.json
@@ -46,6 +46,11 @@
                         "location": "header",
                         "locationName": "X-Scal-Canonical-Id"
                     },
+                    "VersioningRequired": {
+                        "location": "header",
+                        "locationName": "x-scal-versioning-required",
+                        "type": "boolean"
+                    },
                     "Body": {
                         "streaming": true,
                         "type": "blob"
@@ -589,6 +594,11 @@
                         "location": "header",
                         "locationName": "x-scal-replication-content",
                         "type": "string"
+                    },
+                    "VersioningRequired": {
+                        "location": "header",
+                        "locationName": "x-scal-versioning-required",
+                        "type": "boolean"
                     }
                 },
                 "payload": "Body"