diff --git a/pandas/_libs/index.pyx b/pandas/_libs/index.pyx
index 42ba0c1cadaec..bf4d53683c9b7 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/index.pyx
+++ b/pandas/_libs/index.pyx
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ cimport tslib
 
 from hashtable cimport HashTable
 
+from tslibs.timezones cimport _is_utc
 from pandas._libs import tslib, algos, hashtable as _hash
 from pandas._libs.tslib import Timestamp, Timedelta
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
@@ -32,9 +33,6 @@ cdef extern from "datetime.h":
 
 cdef int64_t iNaT = util.get_nat()
 
-from dateutil.tz import tzutc as _du_utc
-import pytz
-UTC = pytz.utc
 
 PyDateTime_IMPORT
 
@@ -559,9 +557,6 @@ cdef inline _to_i8(object val):
             return ival
         return val
 
-cdef inline bint _is_utc(object tz):
-    return tz is UTC or isinstance(tz, _du_utc)
-
 
 cdef class MultiIndexObjectEngine(ObjectEngine):
     """
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/period.pyx b/pandas/_libs/period.pyx
index e2a3baa8d6e8b..08962bca824ca 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/period.pyx
+++ b/pandas/_libs/period.pyx
@@ -34,9 +34,9 @@ from lib cimport is_null_datetimelike, is_period
 from pandas._libs import tslib, lib
 from pandas._libs.tslib import (Timedelta, Timestamp, iNaT,
                                 NaT, _get_utcoffset)
+from tslibs.timezones cimport _is_utc
 from tslib cimport (
     maybe_get_tz,
-    _is_utc,
     _is_tzlocal,
     _get_dst_info,
     _nat_scalar_rules)
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/tslib.pxd b/pandas/_libs/tslib.pxd
index aa8cbcb2cedc7..1d81c3cc15cd8 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/tslib.pxd
+++ b/pandas/_libs/tslib.pxd
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ from numpy cimport ndarray, int64_t
 cdef convert_to_tsobject(object, object, object, bint, bint)
 cpdef convert_to_timedelta64(object, object)
 cpdef object maybe_get_tz(object)
-cdef bint _is_utc(object)
 cdef bint _is_tzlocal(object)
 cdef object _get_dst_info(object)
 cdef bint _nat_scalar_rules[6]
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/tslib.pyx b/pandas/_libs/tslib.pyx
index 7e009652f7f0c..b1f794a0030d1 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/tslib.pyx
+++ b/pandas/_libs/tslib.pyx
@@ -107,6 +107,8 @@ cdef int64_t NPY_NAT = util.get_nat()
 iNaT = NPY_NAT
 
 
+from tslibs.timezones cimport _is_utc
+
 cdef inline object create_timestamp_from_ts(
         int64_t value, pandas_datetimestruct dts,
         object tz, object freq):
@@ -1713,8 +1715,6 @@ def _localize_pydatetime(object dt, object tz):
 def get_timezone(tz):
     return _get_zone(tz)
 
-cdef inline bint _is_utc(object tz):
-    return tz is UTC or isinstance(tz, _dateutil_tzutc)
 
 cdef inline object _get_zone(object tz):
     """
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/tslibs/__init__.py b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/__init__.py
index e69de29bb2d1d..f3aa0424f0376 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/tslibs/__init__.py
+++ b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# cython: profile=False
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/tslibs/timezones.pxd b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/timezones.pxd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..0708282abe1d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/timezones.pxd
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# cython: profile=False
+
+cdef bint _is_utc(object tz)
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/tslibs/timezones.pyx b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/timezones.pyx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..43709e77b70d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/timezones.pyx
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# cython: profile=False
+
+# dateutil compat
+from dateutil.tz import tzutc as _dateutil_tzutc
+
+import pytz
+UTC = pytz.utc
+
+
+cdef inline bint _is_utc(object tz):
+    return tz is UTC or isinstance(tz, _dateutil_tzutc)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index d64a78db7500a..434ca64473916 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -341,6 +341,7 @@ class CheckSDist(sdist_class):
                  'pandas/_libs/window.pyx',
                  'pandas/_libs/sparse.pyx',
                  'pandas/_libs/parsers.pyx',
+                 'pandas/_libs/tslibs/timezones.pyx',
                  'pandas/_libs/tslibs/frequencies.pyx',
                  'pandas/io/sas/sas.pyx']
 
@@ -479,6 +480,7 @@ def pxd(name):
                     'sources': ['pandas/_libs/src/datetime/np_datetime.c',
                                 'pandas/_libs/src/datetime/np_datetime_strings.c',
                                 'pandas/_libs/src/period_helper.c']},
+    '_libs.tslibs.timezones': {'pyxfile': '_libs/tslibs/timezones'},
     '_libs.period': {'pyxfile': '_libs/period',
                      'depends': tseries_depends,
                      'sources': ['pandas/_libs/src/datetime/np_datetime.c',