diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/pep517-backend-import-fix.yml b/changelogs/fragments/pep517-backend-import-fix.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e7e2b1d4823
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/pep517-backend-import-fix.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - pep517 build backend - Use the documented ``import_module`` import from ``importlib``.
diff --git a/packaging/pep517_backend/_backend.py b/packaging/pep517_backend/_backend.py
index d4d10f2364c..e9bb8097c96 100644
--- a/packaging/pep517_backend/_backend.py
+++ b/packaging/pep517_backend/_backend.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import sys
 import typing as t
 from configparser import ConfigParser
 from contextlib import contextmanager, suppress
-from importlib.metadata import import_module
+from importlib import import_module
 from io import StringIO
 from pathlib import Path
 from shutil import copytree