diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 76c15f0f38..277ff38411 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ Release date: TBA
 
 * Require Python 3.6.2 to use astroid.
 
+* Removed custom ``distutils`` handling for resolving paths to submodules.
+
+  Ref #1321
+
 * Fix ``deque.insert()`` signature in ``collections`` brain.
 
   Closes #1260
diff --git a/astroid/interpreter/_import/spec.py b/astroid/interpreter/_import/spec.py
index 43f00153a3..57bab9f434 100644
--- a/astroid/interpreter/_import/spec.py
+++ b/astroid/interpreter/_import/spec.py
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 
 import abc
 import collections
-import distutils
 import enum
 import importlib.machinery
 import os
@@ -161,12 +160,6 @@ def contribute_to_path(self, spec, processed):
                 for p in sys.path
                 if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(p, *processed))
             ]
-        # We already import distutils elsewhere in astroid,
-        # so if it is the same module, we can use it directly.
-        elif spec.name == "distutils" and spec.location in distutils.__path__:
-            # distutils is patched inside virtualenvs to pick up submodules
-            # from the original Python, not from the virtualenv itself.
-            path = list(distutils.__path__)
         else:
             path = [spec.location]
         return path
diff --git a/tests/unittest_modutils.py b/tests/unittest_modutils.py
index a8107f7095..1cd7878432 100644
--- a/tests/unittest_modutils.py
+++ b/tests/unittest_modutils.py
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 """
 unit tests for module modutils (module manipulation utilities)
 """
-import distutils.version
 import email
 import os
 import shutil
@@ -72,10 +71,6 @@ def test_find_egg_module(self) -> None:
             ["data", "MyPyPa-0.1.0-py2.5.egg", self.package],
         )
 
-    def test_find_distutils_submodules_in_virtualenv(self) -> None:
-        found_spec = spec.find_spec(["distutils", "version"])
-        self.assertEqual(found_spec.location, distutils.version.__file__)
-
 
 class LoadModuleFromNameTest(unittest.TestCase):
     """load a python module from it's name"""