diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c63a982..5bc325f 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ project( eccodes LANGUAGES CXX )
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
 
+find_package(tl-expected CONFIG REQUIRED)
+
 
 ###############################################################################
 # system checks needed for eccodes_config.h and some options like MEMFS
@@ -431,7 +433,6 @@ set( ECCODES_INCLUDE_DIRS
   ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
   ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/eccodes
   ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/src/eccodes
-  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/third_party/expected/include
 )
 set( ECCODES_LIBRARIES       eccodes )
 
diff --git a/eccodes-import.cmake.in b/eccodes-import.cmake.in
index c0155c8..3245f4f 100644
--- a/eccodes-import.cmake.in
+++ b/eccodes-import.cmake.in
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+include(CMakeFindDependencyMacro)
+find_dependency(tl-expected CONFIG)
+
 set( ECCODES_DEFINITION_PATH ${eccodes_BASE_DIR}/@ECCODES_DEFINITION_SUFF@ )
 set( ECCODES_SAMPLES_PATH ${eccodes_BASE_DIR}/@ECCODES_SAMPLES_SUFF@ )
 set( ECCODES_IFS_SAMPLES_PATH ${eccodes_BASE_DIR}/@ECCODES_IFS_SAMPLES_SUFF@ )
diff --git a/src/eccodes/CMakeLists.txt b/src/eccodes/CMakeLists.txt
index 04b03eb..7f97c37 100644
--- a/src/eccodes/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/eccodes/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -447,6 +447,7 @@ ecbuild_add_library(
         ${ECCODES_EXTRA_LIBRARIES}
         ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT}
         ${ECCODES_PNG_LIBRARIES}
+        tl::expected
         $<$<BOOL:${libaec_FOUND}>:libaec::aec>
     PUBLIC_LIBS
         ${CMATH_LIBRARIES}
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index 2106df1..cfaa8fe 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ foreach( tool ${test_c_bins} )
                             LIBS      eccodes )
 endforeach()
 
+target_link_libraries(unit_tests tl::expected)
 
 # Now add each test (shell scripts)
 #################################################