diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.20.0.txt b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.20.0.txt
index 63aea96ef3369..79b35e02ba311 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.20.0.txt
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.20.0.txt
@@ -75,6 +75,24 @@ Commonly called 'unix epoch' or POSIX time.
 
    pd.to_datetime([1, 2, 3], unit='D')
 
+.. _whatsnew_0200.enhancements.errors:
+
+pandas errors
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+We are adding a standard public location for all pandas exceptions & warnings ``pandas.errors``. (:issue:`14800`). Previously
+these exceptions & warnings could be imported from ``pandas.core.common`` or ``pandas.io.common``. These exceptions and warnings
+will be removed from the ``*.common`` locations in a future release. (:issue:`15541`)
+
+The following are now part of this API:
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+   import pprint
+   from pandas import errors
+   excs = [ e for e in dir(errors) if not e.startswith('_') ]
+   pprint.pprint(excs)
+
 .. _whatsnew_0200.enhancements.groupby_access:
 
 Groupby Enhancements
diff --git a/pandas/compat/numpy/function.py b/pandas/compat/numpy/function.py
index f448a9aad04c6..1dd22795533fc 100644
--- a/pandas/compat/numpy/function.py
+++ b/pandas/compat/numpy/function.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 from numpy import ndarray
 from pandas.util.validators import (validate_args, validate_kwargs,
                                     validate_args_and_kwargs)
-from pandas.core.common import UnsupportedFunctionCall
+from pandas.errors import UnsupportedFunctionCall
 from pandas.types.common import is_integer, is_bool
 from pandas.compat import OrderedDict
 
diff --git a/pandas/computation/align.py b/pandas/computation/align.py
index 4e12d58a4ab85..b4c80f4d493af 100644
--- a/pandas/computation/align.py
+++ b/pandas/computation/align.py
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@
 
 import pandas as pd
 from pandas import compat
-import pandas.core.common as com
+from pandas.errors import PerformanceWarning
+from pandas.core.common import flatten
 from pandas.computation.common import _result_type_many
 
 
@@ -101,7 +102,7 @@ def _align_core(terms):
                                   'than an order of magnitude on term {1!r}, '
                                   'by more than {2:.4g}; performance may '
                                   'suffer'.format(axis, terms[i].name, ordm),
-                                  category=pd.core.common.PerformanceWarning,
+                                  category=PerformanceWarning,
                                   stacklevel=6)
 
                 if transpose:
@@ -121,7 +122,7 @@ def _align(terms):
     """Align a set of terms"""
     try:
         # flatten the parse tree (a nested list, really)
-        terms = list(com.flatten(terms))
+        terms = list(flatten(terms))
     except TypeError:
         # can't iterate so it must just be a constant or single variable
         if isinstance(terms.value, pd.core.generic.NDFrame):
diff --git a/pandas/core/common.py b/pandas/core/common.py
index 93e24dce8b623..79eb770552531 100644
--- a/pandas/core/common.py
+++ b/pandas/core/common.py
@@ -20,6 +20,11 @@
 from pandas.api import types
 from pandas.types import common
 
+# compat
+from pandas.errors import (  # noqa
+    PandasError, PerformanceWarning,
+    AmbiguousIndexError, UnsupportedFunctionCall, UnsortedIndexError)
+
 # back-compat of public API
 # deprecate these functions
 m = sys.modules['pandas.core.common']
@@ -73,14 +78,6 @@ def array_equivalent(*args, **kwargs):
     return missing.array_equivalent(*args, **kwargs)
 
 
-class PandasError(Exception):
-    pass
-
-
-class PerformanceWarning(Warning):
-    pass
-
-
 class SettingWithCopyError(ValueError):
     pass
 
@@ -89,24 +86,6 @@ class SettingWithCopyWarning(Warning):
     pass
 
 
-class AmbiguousIndexError(PandasError, KeyError):
-    pass
-
-
-class UnsupportedFunctionCall(ValueError):
-    pass
-
-
-class UnsortedIndexError(KeyError):
-    """ Error raised when attempting to get a slice of a MultiIndex
-    and the index has not been lexsorted. Subclass of `KeyError`.
-
-    .. versionadded:: 0.20.0
-
-    """
-    pass
-
-
 class AbstractMethodError(NotImplementedError):
     """Raise this error instead of NotImplementedError for abstract methods
     while keeping compatibility with Python 2 and Python 3.
diff --git a/pandas/core/frame.py b/pandas/core/frame.py
index ffae22447cc65..d75dc8b2fbec3 100644
--- a/pandas/core/frame.py
+++ b/pandas/core/frame.py
@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@
                                  is_named_tuple)
 from pandas.types.missing import isnull, notnull
 
-from pandas.core.common import (PandasError, _try_sort,
+from pandas.errors import PandasError
+from pandas.core.common import (_try_sort,
                                 _default_index,
                                 _values_from_object,
                                 _maybe_box_datetimelike,
diff --git a/pandas/core/ops.py b/pandas/core/ops.py
index 5dac8a7e4d2da..9e777fd94de66 100644
--- a/pandas/core/ops.py
+++ b/pandas/core/ops.py
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@
 from pandas.compat import bind_method
 import pandas.core.missing as missing
 
-from pandas.core.common import (_values_from_object, _maybe_match_name,
-                                PerformanceWarning)
+from pandas.errors import PerformanceWarning
+from pandas.core.common import _values_from_object, _maybe_match_name
 from pandas.types.missing import notnull, isnull
 from pandas.types.common import (needs_i8_conversion,
                                  is_datetimelike_v_numeric,
diff --git a/pandas/core/panel.py b/pandas/core/panel.py
index 5ab3c44b175fe..0748ab12e8005 100644
--- a/pandas/core/panel.py
+++ b/pandas/core/panel.py
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@
 from pandas import compat
 from pandas.compat import (map, zip, range, u, OrderedDict, OrderedDefaultdict)
 from pandas.compat.numpy import function as nv
-from pandas.core.common import PandasError, _try_sort, _default_index
+from pandas.errors import PandasError
+from pandas.core.common import _try_sort, _default_index
 from pandas.core.frame import DataFrame
 from pandas.core.generic import NDFrame, _shared_docs
 from pandas.core.index import (Index, MultiIndex, _ensure_index,
diff --git a/pandas/errors/__init__.py b/pandas/errors/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..3b232a2e8dd97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pandas/errors/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# flake8: noqa
+
+""" expose public exceptions & warnings """
+
+from pandas._libs.tslib import OutOfBoundsDatetime
+
+
+class PandasError(Exception):
+    pass
+
+
+class PerformanceWarning(Warning):
+    pass
+
+class AmbiguousIndexError(PandasError, KeyError):
+    pass
+
+
+class UnsupportedFunctionCall(ValueError):
+    pass
+
+
+class UnsortedIndexError(KeyError):
+    """ Error raised when attempting to get a slice of a MultiIndex
+    and the index has not been lexsorted. Subclass of `KeyError`.
+
+    .. versionadded:: 0.20.0
+
+    """
+    pass
+
+
+class ParserError(ValueError):
+    """
+    Exception that is thrown by an error is encountered in `pd.read_csv`
+    """
+    pass
+
+
+class DtypeWarning(Warning):
+    """
+    Warning that is raised whenever `pd.read_csv` encounters non-
+    uniform dtypes in a column(s) of a given CSV file
+    """
+    pass
+
+
+class EmptyDataError(ValueError):
+    """
+    Exception that is thrown in `pd.read_csv` (by both the C and
+    Python engines) when empty data or header is encountered
+    """
+    pass
+
+
+class ParserWarning(Warning):
+    """
+    Warning that is raised in `pd.read_csv` whenever it is necessary
+    to change parsers (generally from 'c' to 'python') contrary to the
+    one specified by the user due to lack of support or functionality for
+    parsing particular attributes of a CSV file with the requsted engine
+    """
+    pass
diff --git a/pandas/indexes/multi.py b/pandas/indexes/multi.py
index e6ae0605d4758..f12b10ae682fa 100644
--- a/pandas/indexes/multi.py
+++ b/pandas/indexes/multi.py
@@ -19,12 +19,10 @@
                                  is_list_like,
                                  is_scalar)
 from pandas.types.missing import isnull, array_equivalent
+from pandas.errors import PerformanceWarning, UnsortedIndexError
 from pandas.core.common import (_values_from_object,
                                 is_bool_indexer,
-                                is_null_slice,
-                                PerformanceWarning,
-                                UnsortedIndexError)
-
+                                is_null_slice)
 
 import pandas.core.base as base
 from pandas.util.decorators import (Appender, cache_readonly,
diff --git a/pandas/io/common.py b/pandas/io/common.py
index e42d218d7925f..8bc7217db87f9 100644
--- a/pandas/io/common.py
+++ b/pandas/io/common.py
@@ -12,6 +12,14 @@
 from pandas.core.common import AbstractMethodError
 from pandas.types.common import is_number
 
+# compat
+from pandas.errors import (ParserError, DtypeWarning,  # noqa
+                           EmptyDataError, ParserWarning)
+
+# gh-12665: Alias for now and remove later.
+CParserError = ParserError
+
+
 try:
     from s3fs import S3File
     need_text_wrapping = (BytesIO, S3File)
@@ -69,43 +77,6 @@ def urlopen(*args, **kwargs):
 _VALID_URLS.discard('')
 
 
-class ParserError(ValueError):
-    """
-    Exception that is thrown by an error is encountered in `pd.read_csv`
-    """
-    pass
-
-
-# gh-12665: Alias for now and remove later.
-CParserError = ParserError
-
-
-class DtypeWarning(Warning):
-    """
-    Warning that is raised whenever `pd.read_csv` encounters non-
-    uniform dtypes in a column(s) of a given CSV file
-    """
-    pass
-
-
-class EmptyDataError(ValueError):
-    """
-    Exception that is thrown in `pd.read_csv` (by both the C and
-    Python engines) when empty data or header is encountered
-    """
-    pass
-
-
-class ParserWarning(Warning):
-    """
-    Warning that is raised in `pd.read_csv` whenever it is necessary
-    to change parsers (generally from 'c' to 'python') contrary to the
-    one specified by the user due to lack of support or functionality for
-    parsing particular attributes of a CSV file with the requsted engine
-    """
-    pass
-
-
 class BaseIterator(object):
     """Subclass this and provide a "__next__()" method to obtain an iterator.
     Useful only when the object being iterated is non-reusable (e.g. OK for a
diff --git a/pandas/io/excel.py b/pandas/io/excel.py
index d324855bc2f4d..6d136869fc73f 100644
--- a/pandas/io/excel.py
+++ b/pandas/io/excel.py
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@
 
 from pandas.core.frame import DataFrame
 from pandas.io.parsers import TextParser
+from pandas.errors import EmptyDataError
 from pandas.io.common import (_is_url, _urlopen, _validate_header_arg,
-                              EmptyDataError, get_filepath_or_buffer,
-                              _NA_VALUES)
+                              get_filepath_or_buffer, _NA_VALUES)
 from pandas.tseries.period import Period
 from pandas.io.json import libjson
 from pandas.compat import (map, zip, reduce, range, lrange, u, add_metaclass,
diff --git a/pandas/io/html.py b/pandas/io/html.py
index 8a3709dba2176..7b58e612de2df 100644
--- a/pandas/io/html.py
+++ b/pandas/io/html.py
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
 import numpy as np
 
 from pandas.types.common import is_list_like
-from pandas.io.common import (EmptyDataError, _is_url, urlopen,
+from pandas.errors import EmptyDataError
+from pandas.io.common import (_is_url, urlopen,
                               parse_url, _validate_header_arg)
 from pandas.io.parsers import TextParser
 from pandas.compat import (lrange, lmap, u, string_types, iteritems,
diff --git a/pandas/io/packers.py b/pandas/io/packers.py
index 4662e8b635d3f..ca5a27ee5b68e 100644
--- a/pandas/io/packers.py
+++ b/pandas/io/packers.py
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
 from pandas.sparse.api import SparseSeries, SparseDataFrame
 from pandas.sparse.array import BlockIndex, IntIndex
 from pandas.core.generic import NDFrame
-from pandas.core.common import PerformanceWarning
+from pandas.errors import PerformanceWarning
 from pandas.io.common import get_filepath_or_buffer
 from pandas.core.internals import BlockManager, make_block, _safe_reshape
 import pandas.core.internals as internals
diff --git a/pandas/io/parsers.py b/pandas/io/parsers.py
index 30b88de91ef76..0ebd2876982ec 100755
--- a/pandas/io/parsers.py
+++ b/pandas/io/parsers.py
@@ -29,10 +29,11 @@
 from pandas.core import algorithms
 from pandas.core.common import AbstractMethodError
 from pandas.io.date_converters import generic_parser
+from pandas.errors import ParserWarning, ParserError, EmptyDataError
 from pandas.io.common import (get_filepath_or_buffer, _validate_header_arg,
                               _get_handle, UnicodeReader, UTF8Recoder,
-                              BaseIterator, ParserError, EmptyDataError,
-                              ParserWarning, _NA_VALUES, _infer_compression)
+                              BaseIterator,
+                              _NA_VALUES, _infer_compression)
 from pandas.tseries import tools
 
 from pandas.util.decorators import Appender
diff --git a/pandas/io/parsers.pyx b/pandas/io/parsers.pyx
index 3728cda559050..4053e726d0a04 100644
--- a/pandas/io/parsers.pyx
+++ b/pandas/io/parsers.pyx
@@ -13,12 +13,12 @@ from cpython cimport (PyObject, PyBytes_FromString,
                       PyUnicode_Check, PyUnicode_AsUTF8String,
                       PyErr_Occurred, PyErr_Fetch)
 from cpython.ref cimport PyObject, Py_XDECREF
-from pandas.io.common import (ParserError, DtypeWarning,
-                              EmptyDataError, ParserWarning)
+from pandas.errors import (ParserError, DtypeWarning,
+                           EmptyDataError, ParserWarning)
 
 # Import CParserError as alias of ParserError for backwards compatibility.
 # Ultimately, we want to remove this import. See gh-12665 and gh-14479.
-from pandas.io.common import CParserError
+CParserError = ParserError
 
 cdef extern from "Python.h":
     object PyUnicode_FromString(char *v)
diff --git a/pandas/io/pytables.py b/pandas/io/pytables.py
index f75a4761e0948..9b525b76b0f17 100644
--- a/pandas/io/pytables.py
+++ b/pandas/io/pytables.py
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@
 from pandas.sparse.array import BlockIndex, IntIndex
 from pandas.core.base import StringMixin
 from pandas.formats.printing import adjoin, pprint_thing
-from pandas.core.common import _asarray_tuplesafe, PerformanceWarning
+from pandas.errors import PerformanceWarning
+from pandas.core.common import _asarray_tuplesafe
 from pandas.core.algorithms import match, unique
 from pandas.core.categorical import Categorical, _factorize_from_iterables
 from pandas.core.internals import (BlockManager, make_block,
diff --git a/pandas/lib.py b/pandas/lib.py
index 6c26627a97de3..859a78060fcc1 100644
--- a/pandas/lib.py
+++ b/pandas/lib.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import warnings
 warnings.warn("The pandas.lib module is deprecated and will be "
-              "removed in a future version. Please import from "
-              "the pandas._libs.lib instead", FutureWarning, stacklevel=2)
+              "removed in a future version. These are private functions "
+              "and can be accessed from pandas._libs.lib instead",
+              FutureWarning, stacklevel=2)
 from pandas._libs.lib import *
diff --git a/pandas/tests/api/test_api.py b/pandas/tests/api/test_api.py
index 73222c246fc70..7de8fc25f687b 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/api/test_api.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/api/test_api.py
@@ -1,12 +1,9 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 from warnings import catch_warnings
-import numpy as np
 
 import pandas as pd
-from pandas.core import common as com
 from pandas import api
-from pandas.api import types
 from pandas.util import testing as tm
 
 
@@ -33,7 +30,7 @@ class TestPDApi(Base, tm.TestCase):
 
     # top-level sub-packages
     lib = ['api', 'compat', 'computation', 'core',
-           'indexes', 'formats', 'pandas',
+           'indexes', 'formats', 'errors', 'pandas',
            'test', 'tools', 'tseries', 'sparse',
            'types', 'util', 'options', 'io']
 
@@ -129,80 +126,6 @@ def test_api(self):
         self.check(api, self.allowed)
 
 
-class TestTypes(Base, tm.TestCase):
-
-    allowed = ['is_any_int_dtype', 'is_bool', 'is_bool_dtype',
-               'is_categorical', 'is_categorical_dtype', 'is_complex',
-               'is_complex_dtype', 'is_datetime64_any_dtype',
-               'is_datetime64_dtype', 'is_datetime64_ns_dtype',
-               'is_datetime64tz_dtype', 'is_datetimetz', 'is_dtype_equal',
-               'is_extension_type', 'is_float', 'is_float_dtype',
-               'is_floating_dtype', 'is_int64_dtype', 'is_integer',
-               'is_integer_dtype', 'is_number', 'is_numeric_dtype',
-               'is_object_dtype', 'is_scalar', 'is_sparse',
-               'is_string_dtype', 'is_signed_integer_dtype',
-               'is_timedelta64_dtype', 'is_timedelta64_ns_dtype',
-               'is_unsigned_integer_dtype', 'is_period',
-               'is_period_dtype', 'is_re', 'is_re_compilable',
-               'is_dict_like', 'is_iterator',
-               'is_list_like', 'is_hashable',
-               'is_named_tuple', 'is_sequence',
-               'pandas_dtype']
-
-    def test_types(self):
-
-        self.check(types, self.allowed)
-
-    def check_deprecation(self, fold, fnew):
-        with tm.assert_produces_warning(DeprecationWarning):
-            try:
-                result = fold('foo')
-                expected = fnew('foo')
-                self.assertEqual(result, expected)
-            except TypeError:
-                self.assertRaises(TypeError,
-                                  lambda: fnew('foo'))
-            except AttributeError:
-                self.assertRaises(AttributeError,
-                                  lambda: fnew('foo'))
-
-    def test_deprecation_core_common(self):
-
-        # test that we are in fact deprecating
-        # the pandas.core.common introspectors
-        for t in self.allowed:
-            self.check_deprecation(getattr(com, t), getattr(types, t))
-
-    def test_deprecation_core_common_array_equivalent(self):
-
-        with tm.assert_produces_warning(DeprecationWarning):
-            com.array_equivalent(np.array([1, 2]), np.array([1, 2]))
-
-    def test_deprecation_core_common_moved(self):
-
-        # these are in pandas.types.common
-        l = ['is_datetime_arraylike',
-             'is_datetime_or_timedelta_dtype',
-             'is_datetimelike',
-             'is_datetimelike_v_numeric',
-             'is_datetimelike_v_object',
-             'is_datetimetz',
-             'is_int_or_datetime_dtype',
-             'is_period_arraylike',
-             'is_string_like',
-             'is_string_like_dtype']
-
-        from pandas.types import common as c
-        for t in l:
-            self.check_deprecation(getattr(com, t), getattr(c, t))
-
-    def test_removed_from_core_common(self):
-
-        for t in ['is_null_datelike_scalar',
-                  'ensure_float']:
-            self.assertRaises(AttributeError, lambda: getattr(com, t))
-
-
 class TestDatetoolsDeprecation(tm.TestCase):
 
     def test_deprecation_access_func(self):
@@ -271,4 +194,4 @@ class TestTSLib(tm.TestCase):
 
     def test_deprecation_access_func(self):
         with catch_warnings(record=True):
-            pd.tslib.Timestamp
+            pd.tslib.Timestamp('20160101')
diff --git a/pandas/tests/api/test_types.py b/pandas/tests/api/test_types.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..686de4a196034
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pandas/tests/api/test_types.py
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+import numpy as np
+
+from pandas.core import common as com
+from pandas.api import types
+from pandas.util import testing as tm
+
+from .test_api import Base
+
+
+class TestTypes(Base, tm.TestCase):
+
+    allowed = ['is_any_int_dtype', 'is_bool', 'is_bool_dtype',
+               'is_categorical', 'is_categorical_dtype', 'is_complex',
+               'is_complex_dtype', 'is_datetime64_any_dtype',
+               'is_datetime64_dtype', 'is_datetime64_ns_dtype',
+               'is_datetime64tz_dtype', 'is_datetimetz', 'is_dtype_equal',
+               'is_extension_type', 'is_float', 'is_float_dtype',
+               'is_floating_dtype', 'is_int64_dtype', 'is_integer',
+               'is_integer_dtype', 'is_number', 'is_numeric_dtype',
+               'is_object_dtype', 'is_scalar', 'is_sparse',
+               'is_string_dtype', 'is_signed_integer_dtype',
+               'is_timedelta64_dtype', 'is_timedelta64_ns_dtype',
+               'is_unsigned_integer_dtype', 'is_period',
+               'is_period_dtype', 'is_re', 'is_re_compilable',
+               'is_dict_like', 'is_iterator',
+               'is_list_like', 'is_hashable',
+               'is_named_tuple', 'is_sequence',
+               'pandas_dtype']
+
+    def test_types(self):
+
+        self.check(types, self.allowed)
+
+    def check_deprecation(self, fold, fnew):
+        with tm.assert_produces_warning(DeprecationWarning):
+            try:
+                result = fold('foo')
+                expected = fnew('foo')
+                self.assertEqual(result, expected)
+            except TypeError:
+                self.assertRaises(TypeError,
+                                  lambda: fnew('foo'))
+            except AttributeError:
+                self.assertRaises(AttributeError,
+                                  lambda: fnew('foo'))
+
+    def test_deprecation_core_common(self):
+
+        # test that we are in fact deprecating
+        # the pandas.core.common introspectors
+        for t in self.allowed:
+            self.check_deprecation(getattr(com, t), getattr(types, t))
+
+    def test_deprecation_core_common_array_equivalent(self):
+
+        with tm.assert_produces_warning(DeprecationWarning):
+            com.array_equivalent(np.array([1, 2]), np.array([1, 2]))
+
+    def test_deprecation_core_common_moved(self):
+
+        # these are in pandas.types.common
+        l = ['is_datetime_arraylike',
+             'is_datetime_or_timedelta_dtype',
+             'is_datetimelike',
+             'is_datetimelike_v_numeric',
+             'is_datetimelike_v_object',
+             'is_datetimetz',
+             'is_int_or_datetime_dtype',
+             'is_period_arraylike',
+             'is_string_like',
+             'is_string_like_dtype']
+
+        from pandas.types import common as c
+        for t in l:
+            self.check_deprecation(getattr(com, t), getattr(c, t))
+
+    def test_removed_from_core_common(self):
+
+        for t in ['is_null_datelike_scalar',
+                  'ensure_float']:
+            self.assertRaises(AttributeError, lambda: getattr(com, t))
diff --git a/pandas/tests/computation/test_eval.py b/pandas/tests/computation/test_eval.py
index 81e9b7c77a81b..97ed88b1dc22b 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/computation/test_eval.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/computation/test_eval.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 from pandas.types.common import is_list_like, is_scalar
 import pandas as pd
 from pandas.core import common as com
+from pandas.errors import PerformanceWarning
 from pandas import DataFrame, Series, Panel, date_range
 from pandas.util.testing import makeCustomDataframe as mkdf
 
@@ -1023,7 +1024,7 @@ def test_performance_warning_for_poor_alignment(self, engine, parser):
         df = DataFrame(randn(1000, 10))
         s = Series(randn(10000))
         if engine == 'numexpr':
-            seen = pd.core.common.PerformanceWarning
+            seen = PerformanceWarning
         else:
             seen = False
 
@@ -1045,7 +1046,7 @@ def test_performance_warning_for_poor_alignment(self, engine, parser):
         is_python_engine = engine == 'python'
 
         if not is_python_engine:
-            wrn = pd.core.common.PerformanceWarning
+            wrn = PerformanceWarning
         else:
             wrn = False
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/frame/test_axis_select_reindex.py b/pandas/tests/frame/test_axis_select_reindex.py
index 839ceb5368240..7ed2bfb601eb8 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/frame/test_axis_select_reindex.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/frame/test_axis_select_reindex.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
                                  assert_frame_equal,
                                  assertRaisesRegexp)
 
-from pandas.core.common import PerformanceWarning
+from pandas.errors import PerformanceWarning
 import pandas.util.testing as tm
 
 from pandas.tests.frame.common import TestData
diff --git a/pandas/tests/frame/test_constructors.py b/pandas/tests/frame/test_constructors.py
index ba7e45d7e66fb..6349e07d50dc5 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/frame/test_constructors.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/frame/test_constructors.py
@@ -20,9 +20,8 @@
 from pandas import (DataFrame, Index, Series, isnull,
                     MultiIndex, Timedelta, Timestamp,
                     date_range)
-from pandas.core.common import PandasError
+from pandas.errors import PandasError
 import pandas as pd
-import pandas.core.common as com
 import pandas._libs.lib as lib
 import pandas.util.testing as tm
 
@@ -1242,8 +1241,8 @@ def test_constructor_single_value(self):
                                                      dtype=object),
                                             index=[1, 2], columns=['a', 'c']))
 
-        self.assertRaises(com.PandasError, DataFrame, 'a', [1, 2])
-        self.assertRaises(com.PandasError, DataFrame, 'a', columns=['a', 'c'])
+        self.assertRaises(PandasError, DataFrame, 'a', [1, 2])
+        self.assertRaises(PandasError, DataFrame, 'a', columns=['a', 'c'])
         with tm.assertRaisesRegexp(TypeError, 'incompatible data and dtype'):
             DataFrame('a', [1, 2], ['a', 'c'], float)
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/frame/test_to_csv.py b/pandas/tests/frame/test_to_csv.py
index e49dfffc48803..927b9f6a48718 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/frame/test_to_csv.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/frame/test_to_csv.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 
 from pandas.compat import (lmap, range, lrange, StringIO, u)
-from pandas.io.common import ParserError
+from pandas.errors import ParserError
 from pandas import (DataFrame, Index, Series, MultiIndex, Timestamp,
                     date_range, read_csv, compat, to_datetime)
 import pandas as pd
diff --git a/pandas/tests/groupby/test_groupby.py b/pandas/tests/groupby/test_groupby.py
index 83502434e6053..c17c98c5448be 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/groupby/test_groupby.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/groupby/test_groupby.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from pandas import (date_range, bdate_range, Timestamp,
                     isnull, Index, MultiIndex, DataFrame, Series,
                     concat, Panel)
-from pandas.core.common import UnsupportedFunctionCall
+from pandas.errors import UnsupportedFunctionCall, PerformanceWarning
 from pandas.util.testing import (assert_panel_equal, assert_frame_equal,
                                  assert_series_equal, assert_almost_equal,
                                  assert_index_equal, assertRaisesRegexp)
@@ -3475,7 +3475,7 @@ def test_groupby_multiindex_not_lexsorted(self):
         tm.assert_frame_equal(lexsorted_df, not_lexsorted_df)
 
         expected = lexsorted_df.groupby('a').mean()
-        with tm.assert_produces_warning(com.PerformanceWarning):
+        with tm.assert_produces_warning(PerformanceWarning):
             result = not_lexsorted_df.groupby('a').mean()
         tm.assert_frame_equal(expected, result)
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/indexes/datetimes/test_ops.py b/pandas/tests/indexes/datetimes/test_ops.py
index 4681879d708c4..4be9999982f12 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/indexes/datetimes/test_ops.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/indexes/datetimes/test_ops.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 import pandas as pd
 import pandas._libs.tslib as tslib
 import pandas.util.testing as tm
-from pandas.core.common import PerformanceWarning
+from pandas.errors import PerformanceWarning
 from pandas.tseries.index import cdate_range
 from pandas import (DatetimeIndex, PeriodIndex, Series, Timestamp, Timedelta,
                     date_range, TimedeltaIndex, _np_version_under1p10, Index,
diff --git a/pandas/tests/indexes/test_multi.py b/pandas/tests/indexes/test_multi.py
index 0c274b2f6c4ff..470526043234f 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/indexes/test_multi.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/indexes/test_multi.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 from pandas import (CategoricalIndex, DataFrame, Index, MultiIndex,
                     compat, date_range, period_range)
 from pandas.compat import PY3, long, lrange, lzip, range, u
-from pandas.core.common import PerformanceWarning, UnsortedIndexError
+from pandas.errors import PerformanceWarning, UnsortedIndexError
 from pandas.indexes.base import InvalidIndexError
 from pandas._libs import lib
 from pandas._libs.lib import Timestamp
diff --git a/pandas/tests/indexing/test_ix.py b/pandas/tests/indexing/test_ix.py
index e68e8015a2f39..b12d1eb97f88b 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/indexing/test_ix.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/indexing/test_ix.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 from pandas.compat import lrange
 from pandas import Series, DataFrame, option_context, MultiIndex
 from pandas.util import testing as tm
-from pandas.core.common import PerformanceWarning
+from pandas.errors import PerformanceWarning
 
 
 class TestIX(tm.TestCase):
diff --git a/pandas/tests/indexing/test_multiindex.py b/pandas/tests/indexing/test_multiindex.py
index ed943202872a7..1fc0a87764b94 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/indexing/test_multiindex.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/indexing/test_multiindex.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 from pandas import (Panel, Series, MultiIndex, DataFrame,
                     Timestamp, Index, date_range)
 from pandas.util import testing as tm
-from pandas.core.common import PerformanceWarning, UnsortedIndexError
+from pandas.errors import PerformanceWarning, UnsortedIndexError
 from pandas.tests.indexing.common import _mklbl
 
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/parser/common.py b/pandas/tests/io/parser/common.py
index 2c8bca490f274..7faf485b65d10 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/parser/common.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/parser/common.py
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
 from pandas import compat
 from pandas.compat import (StringIO, BytesIO, PY3,
                            range, lrange, u)
-from pandas.io.common import DtypeWarning, EmptyDataError, URLError
+from pandas.errors import DtypeWarning, EmptyDataError
+from pandas.io.common import URLError
 from pandas.io.parsers import TextFileReader, TextParser
 
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/parser/dialect.py b/pandas/tests/io/parser/dialect.py
index ee50cf812f72e..82871628e54d6 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/parser/dialect.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/parser/dialect.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 from pandas import DataFrame
 from pandas.compat import StringIO
-from pandas.io.common import ParserWarning
+from pandas.errors import ParserWarning
 
 import pandas.util.testing as tm
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/parser/dtypes.py b/pandas/tests/io/parser/dtypes.py
index fa95c18c4d7a9..8066718363803 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/parser/dtypes.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/parser/dtypes.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 from pandas import DataFrame, Series, Index, MultiIndex, Categorical
 from pandas.compat import StringIO
 from pandas.types.dtypes import CategoricalDtype
-from pandas.io.common import ParserWarning
+from pandas.errors import ParserWarning
 
 
 class DtypeTests(object):
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/parser/skiprows.py b/pandas/tests/io/parser/skiprows.py
index c53e6a1579267..cb1b656e42be2 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/parser/skiprows.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/parser/skiprows.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 import pandas.util.testing as tm
 
 from pandas import DataFrame
-from pandas.io.common import EmptyDataError
+from pandas.errors import EmptyDataError
 from pandas.compat import StringIO, range, lrange
 
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/parser/test_unsupported.py b/pandas/tests/io/parser/test_unsupported.py
index 48dd5d4ba506b..14146a3ad1e9a 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/parser/test_unsupported.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/parser/test_unsupported.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 import pandas.util.testing as tm
 
 from pandas.compat import StringIO
-from pandas.io.common import ParserError
+from pandas.errors import ParserError
 from pandas.io.parsers import read_csv, read_table
 
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py
index 3c980cae3351a..c08d235b07c9e 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 from pandas.compat import is_platform_windows, StringIO
 
 from pandas import read_csv, concat
-import pandas as pd
 
 try:
     from pathlib import Path
@@ -89,23 +88,6 @@ def test_iterator(self):
         tm.assert_frame_equal(first, expected.iloc[[0]])
         tm.assert_frame_equal(concat(it), expected.iloc[1:])
 
-    def test_error_rename(self):
-        # see gh-12665
-        try:
-            raise common.CParserError()
-        except common.ParserError:
-            pass
-
-        try:
-            raise common.ParserError()
-        except common.CParserError:
-            pass
-
-        try:
-            raise common.ParserError()
-        except pd.parser.CParserError:
-            pass
-
 
 class TestMMapWrapper(tm.TestCase):
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_packers.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_packers.py
index efa8587d64657..1b6b0fc62f913 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_packers.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_packers.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 from pandas.compat import u, PY3
 from pandas import (Series, DataFrame, Panel, MultiIndex, bdate_range,
                     date_range, period_range, Index, Categorical)
-from pandas.core.common import PerformanceWarning
+from pandas.errors import PerformanceWarning
 from pandas.io.packers import to_msgpack, read_msgpack
 import pandas.util.testing as tm
 from pandas.util.testing import (ensure_clean,
diff --git a/pandas/tests/test_errors.py b/pandas/tests/test_errors.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..19de66dc598b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pandas/tests/test_errors.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+import pytest
+import pandas  # noqa
+import pandas as pd
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "exc", ['PandasError', 'AmbiguousIndexError',
+            'UnsupportedFunctionCall', 'UnsortedIndexError',
+            'OutOfBoundsDatetime',
+            'ParserError', 'PerformanceWarning', 'DtypeWarning',
+            'EmptyDataError', 'ParserWarning'])
+def test_exception_importable(exc):
+    from pandas import errors
+    e = getattr(errors, exc)
+    assert e is not None
+
+    # check that we can raise on them
+    with pytest.raises(e):
+        raise e()
+
+
+def test_catch_oob():
+    from pandas import errors
+
+    try:
+        pd.Timestamp('15000101')
+    except errors.OutOfBoundsDatetime:
+        pass
+
+
+def test_error_rename():
+    # see gh-12665
+    from pandas.errors import ParserError
+    from pandas.io.common import CParserError
+
+    try:
+        raise CParserError()
+    except ParserError:
+        pass
+
+    try:
+        raise ParserError()
+    except CParserError:
+        pass
+
+    try:
+        raise ParserError()
+    except pd.parser.CParserError:
+        pass
diff --git a/pandas/tests/test_window.py b/pandas/tests/test_window.py
index fe03d7886e661..ceb12c6c03074 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/test_window.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/test_window.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 import pandas.core.window as rwindow
 import pandas.tseries.offsets as offsets
 from pandas.core.base import SpecificationError
-from pandas.core.common import UnsupportedFunctionCall
+from pandas.errors import UnsupportedFunctionCall
 import pandas.util.testing as tm
 from pandas.compat import range, zip, PY3
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/tseries/test_resample.py b/pandas/tests/tseries/test_resample.py
index 57a655b0b7610..57e5a1631f8e8 100755
--- a/pandas/tests/tseries/test_resample.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/tseries/test_resample.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 from pandas.types.generic import ABCSeries, ABCDataFrame
 from pandas.compat import range, lrange, zip, product, OrderedDict
 from pandas.core.base import SpecificationError
-from pandas.core.common import UnsupportedFunctionCall
+from pandas.errors import UnsupportedFunctionCall
 from pandas.core.groupby import DataError
 from pandas.tseries.frequencies import MONTHS, DAYS
 from pandas.tseries.frequencies import to_offset
diff --git a/pandas/tseries/index.py b/pandas/tseries/index.py
index 9123131a6dccf..f6b54e547c1b9 100644
--- a/pandas/tseries/index.py
+++ b/pandas/tseries/index.py
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@
 from pandas.types.missing import isnull
 
 import pandas.types.concat as _concat
-from pandas.core.common import (_values_from_object, _maybe_box,
-                                PerformanceWarning)
+from pandas.errors import PerformanceWarning
+from pandas.core.common import _values_from_object, _maybe_box
 
 from pandas.core.index import Index, Int64Index, Float64Index
 from pandas.indexes.base import _index_shared_docs
diff --git a/pandas/tslib.py b/pandas/tslib.py
index 3ecbffa20700d..82d2733ed3171 100644
--- a/pandas/tslib.py
+++ b/pandas/tslib.py
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@
 import warnings
 warnings.warn("The pandas.tslib module is deprecated and will be "
               "removed in a future version. Please import from "
-              "the pandas._libs.tslib instead", FutureWarning, stacklevel=2)
+              "the pandas or pandas.api.exceptions instead", FutureWarning, stacklevel=2)
 from pandas._libs.tslib import (Timestamp, Timedelta,
                                NaT, OutOfBoundsDatetime)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 89be053249346..96b25f7427370 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -637,6 +637,7 @@ def pxd(name):
                 'pandas.computation',
                 'pandas.core',
                 'pandas.indexes',
+                'pandas.errors',
                 'pandas.io',
                 'pandas.io.json',
                 'pandas.io.sas',