diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 33603fa0c7cc..299631235b28 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@ Remember to align the itemized text with the first line of an item within a list
   * The deprecated config option `jax_jit_pjit_api_merge`, which did nothing,
     has been removed.
 
+* New features
+  * JAX now supports a configuration flag --jax_serialization_version
+    and a JAX_SERIALIZATION_VERSION environment variable to control the
+    serialization version ({jax-issue}`#16746`).
+
 ## jaxlib 0.4.14
 
 * Deprecations
diff --git a/jax/_src/config.py b/jax/_src/config.py
index 3b2bea6a9c8a..ee1ce471c478 100644
--- a/jax/_src/config.py
+++ b/jax/_src/config.py
@@ -687,6 +687,21 @@ def update_thread_local_jit_state(**kw):
     )
 )
 
+jax_serialization_version = config.define_int_state(
+    name='jax_serialization_version',
+    # Note: bump the default serialization version at least one month after
+    # we update XlaCallModule to support the new version, so that serialized
+    # modules are forward compatible with deployed versions of XlaCallModule.
+    # Version 6 of XlaCallModule is supported since June 7th, 2023.
+    default=int_env('JAX_SERIALIZATION_VERSION', 6),
+    help=(
+        'The version number to use for native serialization. This must be '
+        'within the range of versions supported by the tf.XlaCallModule '
+        'used in your deployment environment. '
+        'See https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Atensorflow%2Ftensorflow+path%3Axla_call_module+%22int+VERSION_MAXIMUM_SUPPORTED%22&type=code.'
+    )
+)
+
 jax_platforms = config.define_string_state(
     name='jax_platforms',
     default=None,
diff --git a/jax/experimental/jax2tf/jax2tf.py b/jax/experimental/jax2tf/jax2tf.py
index ca83082a4129..a2ed5eccecb9 100644
--- a/jax/experimental/jax2tf/jax2tf.py
+++ b/jax/experimental/jax2tf/jax2tf.py
@@ -843,15 +843,9 @@ def _convert_value(val, aval):
   kept_args_avals = [aval for i, aval in enumerate(exported.in_avals) if i in exported.module_kept_var_idx]
   kept_args_flat_tf = [atf for i, atf in enumerate(args_flat_tf) if i in exported.module_kept_var_idx]
 
-  if hasattr(tfxla, "call_module_maximum_supported_version"):
-    max_version_supported = tfxla.call_module_maximum_supported_version()
-  else:
-    max_version_supported = 5
-  # TODO(necula): cleanup handling of Exported.xla_call_module_version
-  assert exported.xla_call_module_version == 6
-
+  version = exported.xla_call_module_version
   call_module_attrs = dict(
-      version=max_version_supported,
+      version=version,
       Tout=out_types,
       Sout=out_shapes_tf,
       function_list=[
@@ -861,12 +855,12 @@ def _convert_value(val, aval):
   )
 
   call_module_attrs["platforms"] = (exported.lowering_platform.upper(),)
-  if max_version_supported >= 6:
+  if version >= 6:
     call_module_attrs["disabled_checks"] = tuple(
         str(dc)
         for dc in exported.disabled_checks)
   else:
-    if exported.xla_call_module_version >= 3:
+    if version >= 3:
       if DisabledSafetyCheck.platform() in exported.disabled_checks:
         call_module_attrs["platforms"] = ()  # No platform checking
 
diff --git a/jax/experimental/jax2tf/jax_export.py b/jax/experimental/jax2tf/jax_export.py
index 343206849a30..1b8f44a32817 100644
--- a/jax/experimental/jax2tf/jax_export.py
+++ b/jax/experimental/jax2tf/jax_export.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 
 import jax
+from jax import config
 from jax import sharding
 
 from jax._src import core
@@ -438,7 +439,7 @@ def do_export(*args_specs, **kwargs_specs) -> Exported:
 
 
 def _serialize_module(module: ir.Module) -> tuple[bytes, int]:
-  xla_call_module_version = 6
+  xla_call_module_version = config.jax_serialization_version
   mlir_str = mlir.module_to_bytecode(module)
   if hlo.get_api_version() < 4:
     target_version = hlo.get_earliest_forward_compatible_version()
diff --git a/jax/experimental/jax2tf/tests/jax2tf_test.py b/jax/experimental/jax2tf/tests/jax2tf_test.py
index 6fccff8c3b9d..fbec68c946e0 100644
--- a/jax/experimental/jax2tf/tests/jax2tf_test.py
+++ b/jax/experimental/jax2tf/tests/jax2tf_test.py
@@ -1677,6 +1677,7 @@ def get_serialized_computation(
 
 class XlaCallModuleTest(tf_test_util.JaxToTfTestCase):
   """Unit tests for XlaCallModule. Will move these eventually to TF."""
+  # TODO(necula): move these tests to TF
   def test_simple(self):
 
     def f_jax(x):
@@ -1796,6 +1797,15 @@ def func():
     jax_result = func()
     self.assertEqual(tf_result, jax_result)
 
+class Jax2TfVersioningTest(tf_test_util.JaxToTfTestCase):
+  # Use a separate test case with the default jax_serialization_version
+  def setUp(self):
+    self.use_max_serialization_version = False
+    super().setUp()
+
+  def test_simple(self):
+    self.ConvertAndCompare(jnp.sin, 0.7)
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
   # TODO: Remove once tensorflow is 2.10.0 everywhere.
diff --git a/jax/experimental/jax2tf/tests/tf_test_util.py b/jax/experimental/jax2tf/tests/tf_test_util.py
index 04bfe899bf5f..27b39c119bcc 100644
--- a/jax/experimental/jax2tf/tests/tf_test_util.py
+++ b/jax/experimental/jax2tf/tests/tf_test_util.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 import contextlib
 import dataclasses
+import functools
 import re
 import os
 
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 import tensorflow as tf  # type: ignore[import]
 from tensorflow.compiler.xla import xla_data_pb2  # type: ignore[import]
+from tensorflow.compiler.tf2xla.python import xla as tfxla  # type: ignore[import]
 
 DType = Any
 
@@ -153,6 +155,9 @@ def ComputeTfValueAndGrad(tf_f: Callable, tf_args: Sequence,
 @jtu.with_config(jax_numpy_rank_promotion="allow",
                  jax_numpy_dtype_promotion='standard')
 class JaxToTfTestCase(jtu.JaxTestCase):
+  # We want most tests to use the maximum available version, from the locally
+  # installed tfxla module.
+  use_max_serialization_version = True
 
   def setUp(self):
     super().setUp()
@@ -167,6 +172,19 @@ def setUp(self):
     self.assertEqual(jtu.device_under_test().upper(),
                      self.tf_default_device.device_type)
 
+    # We run the tests using the maximum version supported, even though
+    # the default serialization version may be held back for a while to
+    # ensure compatibility
+    version = config.jax_serialization_version
+    self.addCleanup(functools.partial(config.update,
+                                      "jax_serialization_version", version))
+    if self.use_max_serialization_version:
+      max_version = tfxla.call_module_maximum_supported_version()
+      self.assertLessEqual(version, max_version)
+      version = max_version
+      config.update("jax_serialization_version", max_version)
+    logging.info("Using JAX serialization version %s", version)
+
     with contextlib.ExitStack() as stack:
       stack.enter_context(tf.device(self.tf_default_device))
       self.addCleanup(stack.pop_all().close)