diff --git a/base-notebook/test/test_python.py b/base-notebook/test/test_python.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6cbde99f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/base-notebook/test/test_python.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Copyright (c) Jupyter Development Team.
+# Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
+import logging
+
+from packaging import version
+
+LOGGER = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+def test_python_version(container, python_max_version="3.9"):
+    """Check that python version is not higher than a max version"""
+    LOGGER.info(f"Checking that python version is lower than {python_max_version}")
+    c = container.run(tty=True, command=["start.sh"])
+    cmd = c.exec_run("python --version")
+    output = cmd.output.decode("utf-8")
+    actual_python_version = version.parse(output.split()[1])
+    assert actual_python_version < version.parse(
+        python_max_version
+    ), f"Python version shall be lower than {python_max_version}"