diff --git a/specs/stein/support-deferred-deletion-in-rbd.rst b/specs/stein/support-deferred-deletion-in-rbd.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5af9544d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/specs/stein/support-deferred-deletion-in-rbd.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,174 @@
+..
+ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
+ License.
+
+ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
+
+==================================================
+Support deferred volume deletion in the RBD driver
+==================================================
+
+https://blueprints.launchpad.net/cinder/+spec/rbd-deferred-volume-deletion
+
+This spec proposes configurable support for deferred volume deletion in the
+RBD driver, using the trash_* API calls, as introduced with the Luminous
+version of Ceph.
+
+Problem description
+===================
+
+Volume deletion in Cinder is synchronous: the c-vol worker thread deleting
+a volume will return only when the backend confirmed the removal of the
+volume. This approach ensures that the space used on the backend will at
+most be equal to the quota of the corresponding project, and hence allows
+for proper resource management. The current implementation of the RBD
+driver follows this approach by using RBD's 'remove()' API call.
+
+For deployments with thousands of volumes/users and large volumes (10-100TB)
+this can create two potential issues:
+
+1) a c-vol worker thread will be blocked during deletion and depending
+   on the size of the volume, the speed of the backend, the number of
+   concurrent requests, and the total number of worker threads, this may
+   block other operations, makes the service seem unresponsive, and can
+   lead to timeouts.
+
+   [1] was proposed to mitigate this problem by making the number of
+   native threads configurable and profit more efficiently from the
+   backend's potential capabilities.
+
+2) users have to wait until the deletion is completed on the backend
+   before they can re-use the freed up quota/space -- despite having
+   signalled to Cinder that the volume should be removed and the quota
+   be freed. For large volumes, this waiting time can be significant
+   (hours for large volumes) and has hence a corresponding negative
+   impact on the user experience.
+
+To address these issues, this spec proposes to optionally support
+asynchronous volume deletion in the RBD driver.
+
+Use Cases
+=========
+
+Administrators can optionally enable a deferred deletion: the Ceph backend
+will acknowledge the deletion immediately adressing the two issues above.
+
+Proposed change
+===============
+
+The proposal is to
+
+- amend the RBD driver to support deferred deletion by optionally calling
+  RBD's 'trash_move()' rather than RBD's 'remove()' in the driver's
+  implementation of 'delete_volume()';
+
+- add a periodic timer in the RBD driver to trigger a regular purge.
+
+For this, the following additional config options would be needed:
+
+- 'enable_deferred_deletion' (default: 'False')
+   If enabled, RBD's 'thrash_move' will be called rather than 'remove'.
+
+- 'deferred_deletion_delay' (default: 0)
+   Number of seconds before an image moved to trash is regarded as expired
+   and can be purged.
+
+- 'deferred_deletion_purge_interval' (default: 3600)
+   Number of seconds between runs of the periodic timer to purge the
+   backend's trash.
+
+Alternatives
+------------
+
+None
+
+Data model impact
+-----------------
+
+None
+
+REST API impact
+---------------
+
+None.
+
+Cinder-client impact
+--------------------
+
+None.
+
+Security impact
+---------------
+
+None.
+
+Notifications impact
+--------------------
+
+None.
+
+Other end user impact
+---------------------
+
+For the end users, deletions will appear to be instantaneous. The freed
+up quota will become available immediately.
+
+Performance Impact
+------------------
+
+Volume deletions will become independent from the backend's speed or the
+size of the volumes.
+
+Other deployer impact
+---------------------
+
+As the deletion is deferred, the space occupied will not be freed immediately.
+Deployers need to be aware that the maximum space needed can exceed the sum
+of the allocated quota of all projects.
+
+Developer impact
+----------------
+
+None
+
+Implementation
+==============
+
+Assignee(s)
+-----------
+
+Primary assignee:
+  Arne Wiebalck (arne.wiebalck@cern.ch)
+
+Work Items
+----------
+
+* Update RBD driver to respect options for deferred deletions and
+  call 'trash_move' if enabled.
+* Add periodic task to call 'trash_purge' for backend which have
+  deferred deletion enabled.
+* Add related unit testcases.
+
+Dependencies
+============
+
+None
+
+Testing
+=======
+
+* Add unit tests to cover this change.
+
+Documentation Impact
+====================
+
+* Add administrator documentation to advertise the option of deferred
+  deletions for RBD and explain why&when&how this should be used,
+  emphasizing in particular that by enabling this option the space of
+  deleted volumes will not be freed on the RBD backend until the trash
+  is purged.
+
+References
+==========
+
+_`[1]`: https://review.openstack.org/#/c/550858/