diff --git a/maven-project/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/project/ModelUtils.java b/maven-project/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/project/ModelUtils.java
index ec56f1b7de..b0c6c758b5 100644
--- a/maven-project/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/project/ModelUtils.java
+++ b/maven-project/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/project/ModelUtils.java
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Properties;
 import java.util.TreeMap;
+import java.util.HashMap;
 
 public final class ModelUtils
 {
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ public final class ModelUtils
             // nothing to do.
             return;
         }
-        
+
         List mergedPlugins = new ArrayList();
 
         List parentPlugins = parentContainer.getPlugins();
@@ -208,6 +209,8 @@ public final class ModelUtils
 
         child.setConfiguration( childConfiguration );
 
+        child.setDependencies( mergeDependencyList( child.getDependencies(), parent.getDependencies() ) );
+
         // from here to the end of the method is dealing with merging of the <executions/> section.
         String parentInherited = parent.getInherited();
 
@@ -1000,4 +1003,30 @@ public final class ModelUtils
             }
         }
     }
+
+    public static List mergeDependencyList( List child, List parent )
+    {
+        Map depsMap = new HashMap();
+
+        if ( parent != null )
+        {
+            for ( Iterator it = parent.iterator(); it.hasNext(); )
+            {
+                Dependency dependency = (Dependency) it.next();
+                depsMap.put( dependency.getManagementKey(), dependency );
+            }
+        }
+
+        if ( child != null )
+        {
+            for ( Iterator it = child.iterator(); it.hasNext(); )
+            {
+                Dependency dependency = (Dependency) it.next();
+                depsMap.put( dependency.getManagementKey(), dependency );
+            }
+        }
+
+        return new ArrayList( depsMap.values() );
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/maven-project/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/ModelUtilsTest.java b/maven-project/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/ModelUtilsTest.java
index 573d568232..60a6a98e92 100644
--- a/maven-project/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/ModelUtilsTest.java
+++ b/maven-project/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/ModelUtilsTest.java
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ import junit.framework.TestCase;
 import org.apache.maven.model.Plugin;
 import org.apache.maven.model.PluginContainer;
 import org.apache.maven.model.PluginExecution;
+import org.apache.maven.model.Dependency;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
 
 /*
  * Copyright 2001-2005 The Apache Software Foundation.
@@ -98,7 +101,7 @@ public class ModelUtilsTest
     }
 
     /**
-     * Verifies MNG-1499: The order of the merged list should be the plugins specified by the parent followed by the 
+     * Verifies MNG-1499: The order of the merged list should be the plugins specified by the parent followed by the
      * child list.
      */
     public void testShouldKeepOriginalPluginOrdering()
@@ -112,22 +115,22 @@ public class ModelUtilsTest
         parentExecution1.setId( "testExecution" );
 
         parentPlugin1.addExecution( parentExecution1 );
-        
+
         Plugin parentPlugin2 = new Plugin();
         parentPlugin2.setArtifactId( "testArtifact" );
         parentPlugin2.setGroupId( "yyy" );
         parentPlugin2.setVersion( "1.0" );
-        
+
         PluginExecution parentExecution2 = new PluginExecution();
         parentExecution2.setId( "testExecution" );
-        
+
         parentPlugin2.addExecution( parentExecution2 );
-        
+
         PluginContainer parentContainer = new PluginContainer();
         parentContainer.addPlugin(parentPlugin1);
         parentContainer.addPlugin(parentPlugin2);
 
-        
+
         Plugin childPlugin1 = new Plugin();
         childPlugin1.setArtifactId( "testArtifact" );
         childPlugin1.setGroupId( "bbb" );
@@ -137,24 +140,24 @@ public class ModelUtilsTest
         childExecution1.setId( "testExecution" );
 
         childPlugin1.addExecution( childExecution1 );
-        
+
         Plugin childPlugin2 = new Plugin();
         childPlugin2.setArtifactId( "testArtifact" );
         childPlugin2.setGroupId( "aaa" );
         childPlugin2.setVersion( "1.0" );
-        
+
         PluginExecution childExecution2 = new PluginExecution();
         childExecution2.setId( "testExecution" );
-        
+
         childPlugin2.addExecution( childExecution2 );
-        
+
         PluginContainer childContainer = new PluginContainer();
         childContainer.addPlugin(childPlugin1);
         childContainer.addPlugin(childPlugin2);
-        
+
 
         ModelUtils.mergePluginLists(childContainer, parentContainer, true);
-        
+
         assertEquals( 4, childContainer.getPlugins().size() );
         assertSame(parentPlugin1, childContainer.getPlugins().get(0));
         assertSame(parentPlugin2, childContainer.getPlugins().get(1));
@@ -180,6 +183,13 @@ public class ModelUtilsTest
         parent.addExecution( parentExecution1 );
         parent.addExecution( parentExecution2 );
 
+        // this block verifies MNG-1703
+        Dependency dep = new Dependency();
+        dep.setGroupId( "depGroupId" );
+        dep.setArtifactId( "depArtifactId" );
+        dep.setVersion( "depVersion" );
+        parent.setDependencies( Collections.singletonList( dep ) );
+
         Plugin child = new Plugin();
         child.setArtifactId( "testArtifact" );
         child.setGroupId( "testGroup" );
@@ -200,5 +210,10 @@ public class ModelUtilsTest
         assertSame(parentExecution2, child.getExecutions().get(1));
         assertSame(childExecution1, child.getExecutions().get(2));
         assertSame(childExecution2, child.getExecutions().get(3));
+
+        // this block prevents MNG-1703
+        assertEquals( 1, child.getDependencies().size() );
+        Dependency dep2 = (Dependency) child.getDependencies().get( 0 );
+        assertEquals( dep.getManagementKey(), dep2.getManagementKey() );
     }
 }