diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 1690bfccc..1957d339f 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -39,4 +39,4 @@ workflows:
       - test_linux:
           matrix:
             parameters:
-              py_version: ["3.6", "3.7", "3.8", "3.9", "3.10", "3.11"]
+              py_version: ["3.8", "3.9", "3.10", "3.11"]
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 19cad4e16..3bec811c9 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -1,24 +1,26 @@
+default_language_version:
+      python: python3.8
+
+# Hook versions should match those in requirements/dev.txt
 repos:
-  - repo: https://github.com/timothycrosley/isort
-    rev: 5.0.9
+  - repo: https://github.com/PyCQA/isort
+    rev: 5.12.0
     hooks:
       - id: isort
 
   - repo: https://github.com/psf/black
-    rev: 20.8b1
+    rev: 23.7.0
     hooks:
       - id: black
-        language_version: python3.8
 
-  - repo: https://gitlab.com/pycqa/flake8
-    rev: 3.7.9
+  - repo: https://github.com/PyCQA/flake8
+    rev: 6.0.0
     hooks:
       - id: flake8
-        additional_dependencies: [-e, 'git+https://github.com/pycqa/pyflakes.git@1911c20#egg=pyflakes']
 
   - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/mirrors-mypy
-    rev: v0.931
+    rev: v1.4.1
     hooks:
       - id: mypy
         args: [--strict]
-        additional_dependencies: ['pytest']
+        additional_dependencies: ['attrs', 'pytest']
diff --git a/.readthedocs.yaml b/.readthedocs.yaml
index c1dae853c..f086a78fa 100644
--- a/.readthedocs.yaml
+++ b/.readthedocs.yaml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ formats:
 
 # Optionally set the version of Python and requirements required to build your docs
 python:
-  version: 3.7
+  version: 3.8
   install:
     - method: pip
       path: .
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index b165a5c68..ffda44b09 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ Optionally install commit hooks: `pre-commit install`
 pre-commit will verify your code lints cleanly when you commit. You can use `git commit -n` to skip the pre-commit hook for a specific commit.
 
 ##### Mac
-OmegaConf is compatible with Python 3.6.4 and newer. Unfortunately Mac comes with older versions.
+OmegaConf is compatible with Python 3.8 and newer.
 
 One way to install multiple Python versions on Mac to to use pyenv.
 The instructions [here](https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/python-docs-samples/blob/master/MAC_SETUP.md)
-will provide full details. It shows how to use pyenv on mac to install multiple versions of Python and have
+will provide full details. It shows how to use pyenv on Mac to install multiple versions of Python and have
 pyenv make specific versions available in specific directories automatically.
 This plays well with Conda, which supports a single Python version. Pyenv will provide the versions not installed by Conda (which are used when running nox).
 
@@ -31,24 +31,16 @@ Run all CI tests with nox:
 ```
 $ nox -l
 Sessions defined in /home/omry/dev/omegaconf/noxfile.py:
-* omegaconf-3.6
-* omegaconf-3.7
 * omegaconf-3.8
 * omegaconf-3.9
 * omegaconf-3.10
 * docs
-* coverage-3.6
-* coverage-3.7
 * coverage-3.8
 * coverage-3.9
 * coverage-3.10
-* lint-3.6
-* lint-3.7
 * lint-3.8
 * lint-3.9
 * lint-3.10
-* test_jupyter_notebook-3.6
-* test_jupyter_notebook-3.7
 * test_jupyter_notebook-3.8
 * test_jupyter_notebook-3.9
 * test_jupyter_notebook-3.10
diff --git a/docs/source/structured_config.rst b/docs/source/structured_config.rst
index 8a3f72349..92207edf3 100644
--- a/docs/source/structured_config.rst
+++ b/docs/source/structured_config.rst
@@ -22,10 +22,8 @@ Structured Configs
 Structured configs are used to create OmegaConf configuration object with runtime type safety.
 In addition, they can be used with tools like mypy or your IDE for static type checking.
 
-Two types of structures classes are supported: dataclasses and attr classes.
-
-- `dataclasses <https://docs.python.org/3.7/library/dataclasses.html>`_ are standard as of Python 3.7 or newer and are available in Python 3.6 via the `dataclasses` pip package.
-- `attrs <https://github.com/python-attrs/attrs>`_  Offset slightly cleaner syntax in some cases but depends on the attrs pip package.
+Two types of structures classes are supported: `dataclasses <https://docs.python.org/3/library/dataclasses.html>`_ and `attrs <https://github.com/python-attrs/attrs>`_ classes
+(that offers slightly cleaner syntax in some cases but depends on the attrs pip package).
 
 This documentation will use dataclasses, but you can use the annotation ``@attr.s(auto_attribs=True)`` from attrs instead of ``@dataclass``.
 
@@ -440,10 +438,6 @@ OmegaConf supports field modifiers such as ``MISSING`` and ``Optional``.
 
     >>> conf: Modifiers = OmegaConf.structured(Modifiers)
 
-Note for Python3.6 users: :ref:`pickling <save_and_load_pickle_file>`
-structured configs with complex type annotations, such as dict-of-list or
-list-of-optional, is not supported.
-
 Mandatory missing values
 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
diff --git a/docs/source/usage.rst b/docs/source/usage.rst
index 3ead89099..7f63b19a7 100644
--- a/docs/source/usage.rst
+++ b/docs/source/usage.rst
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ Just pip install::
 
     pip install omegaconf
 
-OmegaConf requires Python 3.6 and newer.
+OmegaConf requires Python 3.8 or newer.
 
 .. _creating:
 
@@ -316,12 +316,6 @@ Note that the saved file may be incompatible across different versions of OmegaC
     ...     loaded = pickle.load(fp)
     ...     assert conf == loaded
 
-Note for Python3.6 users: due to limitations in pickling support,
-:ref:`structured configs <structured_configs>` with complex type hints (such as
-:ref:`nested container types <nested_dict_and_list_annotations>` or
-:ref:`containers with optional element types <other_special_features>`) cannot
-be pickled using Python3.6.
-
 
 .. _interpolation:
 
diff --git a/news/1109.api_change b/news/1109.api_change
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ce3d91e39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/1109.api_change
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Python 3.6 and 3.7 are not supported anymore: OmegaConf now requires Python 3.8+
diff --git a/noxfile.py b/noxfile.py
index 3201f1812..db547cb30 100644
--- a/noxfile.py
+++ b/noxfile.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 import nox
 from nox import Session
 
-DEFAULT_PYTHON_VERSIONS = ["3.6", "3.7", "3.8", "3.9", "3.10", "3.11"]
+DEFAULT_PYTHON_VERSIONS = ["3.8", "3.9", "3.10", "3.11"]
 
 PYTHON_VERSIONS = os.environ.get(
     "NOX_PYTHON_VERSIONS", ",".join(DEFAULT_PYTHON_VERSIONS)
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ def version_string_to_tuple(version: str) -> Tuple[int, ...]:
     return tuple(map(int, version.split(".")))
 
 
-@nox.session(python=[v for v in PYTHON_VERSIONS if version_string_to_tuple(v) >= (3, 7)])  # type: ignore
+@nox.session(python=PYTHON_VERSIONS)  # type: ignore
 def lint(session: Session) -> None:
     deps(session, editable_install=True)
     session.run(
diff --git a/omegaconf/_utils.py b/omegaconf/_utils.py
index 3452f48ca..a2582f7e1 100644
--- a/omegaconf/_utils.py
+++ b/omegaconf/_utils.py
@@ -6,20 +6,9 @@
 import sys
 import types
 import warnings
-from contextlib import contextmanager
 from enum import Enum
 from textwrap import dedent
-from typing import (
-    Any,
-    Dict,
-    Iterator,
-    List,
-    Optional,
-    Tuple,
-    Type,
-    Union,
-    get_type_hints,
-)
+from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Tuple, Type, Union, get_type_hints
 
 import yaml
 
@@ -635,32 +624,22 @@ def is_dict_annotation(type_: Any) -> bool:
     origin = getattr(type_, "__origin__", None)
     # type_dict is a bit hard to detect.
     # this support is tentative, if it eventually causes issues in other areas it may be dropped.
-    if sys.version_info < (3, 7, 0):  # pragma: no cover
-        typed_dict = hasattr(type_, "__base__") and type_.__base__ == Dict
-        return origin is Dict or type_ is Dict or typed_dict
-    else:  # pragma: no cover
-        typed_dict = hasattr(type_, "__base__") and type_.__base__ == dict
-        return origin is dict or typed_dict
+    typed_dict = hasattr(type_, "__base__") and type_.__base__ == dict
+    return origin is dict or typed_dict
 
 
 def is_list_annotation(type_: Any) -> bool:
     if type_ in (list, List):
         return True
     origin = getattr(type_, "__origin__", None)
-    if sys.version_info < (3, 7, 0):
-        return origin is List or type_ is List  # pragma: no cover
-    else:
-        return origin is list  # pragma: no cover
+    return origin is list
 
 
 def is_tuple_annotation(type_: Any) -> bool:
     if type_ in (tuple, Tuple):
         return True
     origin = getattr(type_, "__origin__", None)
-    if sys.version_info < (3, 7, 0):
-        return origin is Tuple or type_ is Tuple  # pragma: no cover
-    else:
-        return origin is tuple  # pragma: no cover
+    return origin is tuple
 
 
 def is_supported_union_annotation(obj: Any) -> bool:
@@ -1032,10 +1011,3 @@ def split_key(key: str) -> List[str]:
     tokens += [dot_key if dot_key else bracket_key for dot_key, bracket_key in others]
 
     return tokens
-
-
-# Similar to Python 3.7+'s `contextlib.nullcontext` (which should be used instead,
-# once support for Python 3.6 is dropped).
-@contextmanager
-def nullcontext(enter_result: Any = None) -> Iterator[Any]:
-    yield enter_result
diff --git a/omegaconf/basecontainer.py b/omegaconf/basecontainer.py
index 156b1ca30..a83907f8e 100644
--- a/omegaconf/basecontainer.py
+++ b/omegaconf/basecontainer.py
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@
     InterpolationResolutionError,
     KeyValidationError,
     MissingMandatoryValue,
-    OmegaConfBaseException,
     ReadonlyConfigError,
     ValidationError,
 )
@@ -133,12 +132,6 @@ def __getstate__(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
                 dict_copy["_metadata"].ref_type = List
             else:
                 assert False
-        if sys.version_info < (3, 7):  # pragma: no cover
-            element_type = self._metadata.element_type
-            if is_union_annotation(element_type):
-                raise OmegaConfBaseException(
-                    "Serializing structured configs with `Union` element type requires python >= 3.7"
-                )
         return dict_copy
 
     # Support pickle
diff --git a/omegaconf/omegaconf.py b/omegaconf/omegaconf.py
index 041602879..8b130895b 100644
--- a/omegaconf/omegaconf.py
+++ b/omegaconf/omegaconf.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 import sys
 import warnings
 from collections import defaultdict
-from contextlib import contextmanager
+from contextlib import contextmanager, nullcontext
 from enum import Enum
 from textwrap import dedent
 from typing import (
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@
     is_structured_config,
     is_tuple_annotation,
     is_union_annotation,
-    nullcontext,
     split_key,
     type_str,
 )
diff --git a/omegaconf/version.py b/omegaconf/version.py
index f73c6b765..7ea7f3388 100644
--- a/omegaconf/version.py
+++ b/omegaconf/version.py
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
 import sys  # pragma: no cover
 
-__version__ = "2.4.0.dev0"
+__version__ = "2.4.0.dev1"
 
-msg = """OmegaConf 2.0 and above is compatible with Python 3.6 and newer.
+msg = """OmegaConf 2.4 and above is compatible with Python 3.8 and newer.
 You have the following options:
-1. Upgrade to Python 3.6 or newer.
-   This is highly recommended. new features will not be added to OmegaConf 1.4.
-2. Continue using OmegaConf 1.4:
-    You can pip install 'OmegaConf<1.5' to do that.
+1. Upgrade to Python 3.8 or newer.
+   This is highly recommended. new features will not be added to OmegaConf 2.3.
+2. Continue using OmegaConf 2.3:
+    You can pip install 'OmegaConf<2.4' to do that.
 """
-if sys.version_info < (3, 6):
+
+if sys.version_info < (3, 8):
     raise ImportError(msg)  # pragma: no cover
diff --git a/requirements/base.txt b/requirements/base.txt
index 5cad84a1f..1da7fdfb4 100644
--- a/requirements/base.txt
+++ b/requirements/base.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,2 @@
 antlr4-python3-runtime==4.9.*
 PyYAML>=5.1.0
-# Use dataclasses backport for Python 3.6.
-dataclasses;python_version=='3.6'
diff --git a/requirements/dev.txt b/requirements/dev.txt
index eedeeb1aa..6f7b94444 100644
--- a/requirements/dev.txt
+++ b/requirements/dev.txt
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 -r base.txt
 -r docs.txt
 attrs
-black
+black==23.7.0
 build
 coveralls
-flake8>=4
-isort~=5.0
-mypy
+flake8==6.0.0
+isort==5.12.0
+mypy==1.4.1
 nox
 pre-commit
 pyflakes
@@ -15,6 +15,6 @@ pytest-benchmark
 pytest-lazy-fixture
 pytest-mock
 towncrier
+types-setuptools  # makes mypy happy
 twine
 pydevd
-
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index f1a1fff8b..e124d046e 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 test=pytest
 
 [mypy]
-python_version = 3.7
+python_version = 3.8
 mypy_path=.stubs
 exclude = build/
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6088f1df8..f1947727b 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -57,10 +57,8 @@
             "pydevd_plugins",
             "pydevd_plugins.extensions",
         ],
-        python_requires=">=3.6",
+        python_requires=">=3.8",
         classifiers=[
-            "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6",
-            "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7",
             "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
             "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
             "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
diff --git a/tests/examples/dataclass_postponed_annotations.py b/tests/examples/dataclass_postponed_annotations.py
index ada14efd7..eddb97dfb 100644
--- a/tests/examples/dataclass_postponed_annotations.py
+++ b/tests/examples/dataclass_postponed_annotations.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # `from __future__` has to be the very first thing in a module
 # otherwise a syntax error is raised
-from __future__ import annotations  # noqa  # Python 3.6 linters complain
+from __future__ import annotations
 
 from dataclasses import dataclass, fields
 from enum import Enum
diff --git a/tests/examples/test_postponed_annotations.py b/tests/examples/test_postponed_annotations.py
index 750a3babc..716c27629 100644
--- a/tests/examples/test_postponed_annotations.py
+++ b/tests/examples/test_postponed_annotations.py
@@ -1,9 +1,3 @@
-import sys
-
-from pytest import mark
-
-
-@mark.skipif(sys.version_info < (3, 7), reason="requires Python 3.7")
 def test_simple_types_class_postponed() -> None:
     # import from a module which has `from __future__ import annotations`
     from tests.examples.dataclass_postponed_annotations import simple_types_class
@@ -11,7 +5,6 @@ def test_simple_types_class_postponed() -> None:
     simple_types_class()
 
 
-@mark.skipif(sys.version_info < (3, 7), reason="requires Python 3.7")
 def test_conversions_postponed() -> None:
     # import from a module which has `from __future__ import annotations`
     from tests.examples.dataclass_postponed_annotations import conversions
diff --git a/tests/test_base_config.py b/tests/test_base_config.py
index 274a8b573..6129120c1 100644
--- a/tests/test_base_config.py
+++ b/tests/test_base_config.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import copy
+from contextlib import nullcontext
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Union
 
 from pytest import mark, param, raises
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@
     open_dict,
     read_write,
 )
-from omegaconf._utils import _ensure_container, nullcontext
+from omegaconf._utils import _ensure_container
 from omegaconf.errors import ConfigAttributeError, ConfigKeyError, MissingMandatoryValue
 from tests import (
     ConcretePlugin,
diff --git a/tests/test_basic_ops_list.py b/tests/test_basic_ops_list.py
index 0ff4f5f9e..e901efc5c 100644
--- a/tests/test_basic_ops_list.py
+++ b/tests/test_basic_ops_list.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 import re
+from contextlib import nullcontext
 from pathlib import Path
 from textwrap import dedent
 from typing import Any, Callable, List, MutableSequence, Optional, Union
@@ -8,7 +9,7 @@
 from pytest import mark, param, raises
 
 from omegaconf import MISSING, AnyNode, DictConfig, ListConfig, OmegaConf, flag_override
-from omegaconf._utils import _ensure_container, nullcontext
+from omegaconf._utils import _ensure_container
 from omegaconf.base import Node
 from omegaconf.errors import (
     ConfigTypeError,
diff --git a/tests/test_grammar.py b/tests/test_grammar.py
index 6911e8ad3..51129ed17 100644
--- a/tests/test_grammar.py
+++ b/tests/test_grammar.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 import re
 import threading
 import time
+from contextlib import nullcontext
 from typing import Any, Callable, List, Optional, Set, Tuple
 
 import antlr4
@@ -17,7 +18,6 @@
     grammar_parser,
     grammar_visitor,
 )
-from omegaconf._utils import nullcontext
 from omegaconf.errors import (
     GrammarParseError,
     InterpolationKeyError,
diff --git a/tests/test_nodes.py b/tests/test_nodes.py
index 141e1b3d0..5e01a3a8b 100644
--- a/tests/test_nodes.py
+++ b/tests/test_nodes.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import copy
 import functools
 import re
-import sys
 from enum import Enum
 from functools import partial
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -105,10 +104,6 @@ def _build_union(content: Any) -> UnionNode:
             _build_union,
             True,
             True,
-            marks=mark.skipif(
-                sys.version_info < (3, 7),
-                reason="python3.6 treats Union[int, bool] as equivalent to Union[int]",
-            ),
             id="union-bool",
         ),
         param(_build_union, None, None, id="union-none"),
diff --git a/tests/test_omegaconf.py b/tests/test_omegaconf.py
index 1053a21cf..1097eb5af 100644
--- a/tests/test_omegaconf.py
+++ b/tests/test_omegaconf.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import pathlib
 import platform
+from contextlib import nullcontext
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Union
 
@@ -20,7 +21,7 @@
     StringNode,
     UnionNode,
 )
-from omegaconf._utils import _is_none, nullcontext
+from omegaconf._utils import _is_none
 from omegaconf.errors import (
     ConfigKeyError,
     InterpolationKeyError,
diff --git a/tests/test_serialization.py b/tests/test_serialization.py
index a78a99f80..12d7b482d 100644
--- a/tests/test_serialization.py
+++ b/tests/test_serialization.py
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@
 import os
 import pathlib
 import pickle
-import re
-import sys
 import tempfile
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Callable, Dict, List, Optional, Type, Union
@@ -15,7 +13,6 @@
 from omegaconf import MISSING, DictConfig, ListConfig, Node, OmegaConf, UnionNode
 from omegaconf._utils import get_type_hint
 from omegaconf.base import Box
-from omegaconf.errors import OmegaConfBaseException
 from tests import (
     Color,
     NestedContainers,
@@ -232,7 +229,6 @@ def test_load_empty_file(tmpdir: str) -> None:
             str,
             True,
             Optional[Dict[str, int]],
-            marks=mark.skipif(sys.version_info < (3, 7), reason="requires Python 3.7"),
             id="opt_dict",
         ),
         param(
@@ -242,7 +238,6 @@ def test_load_empty_file(tmpdir: str) -> None:
             str,
             False,
             Dict[str, Optional[int]],
-            marks=mark.skipif(sys.version_info < (3, 7), reason="requires Python 3.7"),
             id="dict_opt",
         ),
         param(
@@ -252,7 +247,6 @@ def test_load_empty_file(tmpdir: str) -> None:
             str,
             True,
             Optional[List[int]],
-            marks=mark.skipif(sys.version_info < (3, 7), reason="requires Python 3.7"),
             id="opt_list",
         ),
         param(
@@ -262,7 +256,6 @@ def test_load_empty_file(tmpdir: str) -> None:
             str,
             False,
             List[Optional[int]],
-            marks=mark.skipif(sys.version_info < (3, 7), reason="requires Python 3.7"),
             id="list_opt",
         ),
         param(
@@ -293,7 +286,6 @@ def test_load_empty_file(tmpdir: str) -> None:
             str,
             False,
             Dict[str, Dict[str, int]],
-            marks=mark.skipif(sys.version_info < (3, 7), reason="requires Python 3.7"),
             id="dict-of-dict",
         ),
         param(
@@ -303,7 +295,6 @@ def test_load_empty_file(tmpdir: str) -> None:
             int,
             False,
             List[List[int]],
-            marks=mark.skipif(sys.version_info < (3, 7), reason="requires Python 3.7"),
             id="list-of-list",
         ),
         param(
@@ -313,7 +304,6 @@ def test_load_empty_file(tmpdir: str) -> None:
             str,
             False,
             Dict[str, List[int]],
-            marks=mark.skipif(sys.version_info < (3, 7), reason="requires Python 3.7"),
             id="dict-of-list",
         ),
         param(
@@ -323,7 +313,6 @@ def test_load_empty_file(tmpdir: str) -> None:
             int,
             False,
             List[Dict[str, int]],
-            marks=mark.skipif(sys.version_info < (3, 7), reason="requires Python 3.7"),
             id="list-of-dict",
         ),
     ],
@@ -357,7 +346,6 @@ def get_node(cfg: Any, key: Optional[str]) -> Any:
             assert get_node(cfg2, node)._metadata.key_type == key_type
 
 
-@mark.skipif(sys.version_info < (3, 7), reason="requires python3.7 or newer")
 @mark.parametrize("key", ["ubf", "oubf"])
 def test_pickle_union_node(key: str) -> None:
     cfg = OmegaConf.structured(UnionAnnotations)
@@ -416,18 +404,6 @@ def test_pickle_backward_compatibility(version: str) -> None:
         assert cfg == OmegaConf.create({"a": [{"b": 10}]})
 
 
-@mark.skipif(sys.version_info >= (3, 7), reason="requires python3.6")
-def test_python36_pickle_optional() -> None:
-    cfg = OmegaConf.structured(SubscriptedDictOpt)
-    with raises(
-        OmegaConfBaseException,
-        match=re.escape(
-            "Serializing structured configs with `Union` element type requires python >= 3.7"
-        ),
-    ):
-        pickle.dumps(cfg)
-
-
 @mark.parametrize(
     "copy_fn",
     [
@@ -442,9 +418,6 @@ def test_python36_pickle_optional() -> None:
         param(
             UnionNode(10.0, Union[float, bool]),
             lambda cfg: cfg._value(),
-            marks=mark.skipif(
-                sys.version_info < (3, 7), reason="requires python3.7 or newer"
-            ),
             id="union",
         ),
         param(DictConfig({"foo": "bar"}), lambda cfg: cfg._get_node("foo"), id="dict"),
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
index 3be66d96e..442969d3d 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@
     is_supported_union_annotation,
     is_tuple_annotation,
     is_union_annotation,
-    nullcontext,
     split_key,
 )
 from omegaconf.errors import UnsupportedValueType, ValidationError
@@ -682,10 +681,7 @@ def test_type_str_ellipsis() -> None:
         (Union[float, bool, None], "Optional[Union[float, bool]]"),
         (Union[float, bool, NoneType], "Optional[Union[float, bool]]"),
         (object, "object"),
-        (
-            Optional[object],  # python3.6 treats `Optional[object]` as `object`
-            "Optional[object]" if sys.version_info >= (3, 7) else "object",
-        ),
+        (Optional[object], "Optional[object]"),
     ],
 )
 def test_type_str_nonetype(type_: Any, expected: str) -> None:
@@ -1093,15 +1089,6 @@ def test_split_key(key: str, expected: List[str]) -> None:
     assert split_key(key) == expected
 
 
-def test_nullcontext() -> None:
-    with nullcontext() as x:
-        assert x is None
-
-    obj = object()
-    with nullcontext(obj) as x:
-        assert x is obj
-
-
 @mark.parametrize("is_optional", [True, False])
 @mark.parametrize(
     "fac",