diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/9503-opentelemetry-remove-unused-code.yml b/changelogs/fragments/9503-opentelemetry-remove-unused-code.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1381f02554
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/9503-opentelemetry-remove-unused-code.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - opentelemetry callback plugin - remove code handling Python versions prior to 3.7 (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/9503).
diff --git a/plugins/callback/opentelemetry.py b/plugins/callback/opentelemetry.py
index b99b34933b..38388e8270 100644
--- a/plugins/callback/opentelemetry.py
+++ b/plugins/callback/opentelemetry.py
@@ -166,7 +166,6 @@ try:
     )
 except ImportError as imp_exc:
     OTEL_LIBRARY_IMPORT_ERROR = imp_exc
-    OTEL_LIBRARY_TIME_NS_ERROR = imp_exc
 else:
     OTEL_LIBRARY_IMPORT_ERROR = None