diff --git a/odoo/addons/base/ir/ir_actions.py b/odoo/addons/base/ir/ir_actions.py
index 862d288ac5b..bacca6d78d3 100644
--- a/odoo/addons/base/ir/ir_actions.py
+++ b/odoo/addons/base/ir/ir_actions.py
@@ -5,13 +5,12 @@ import odoo
 from odoo import api, fields, models, tools, SUPERUSER_ID, _
 from odoo.exceptions import MissingError, UserError, ValidationError, AccessError
 from odoo.tools.safe_eval import safe_eval, test_python_expr
-from odoo.tools import pycompat
+from odoo.tools import pycompat, wrap_module
 from odoo.http import request
 
 import base64
 from collections import defaultdict
 import datetime
-import dateutil
 import logging
 import time
 
@@ -19,6 +18,16 @@ from pytz import timezone
 
 _logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+# build dateutil helper, starting with the relevant *lazy* imports
+import dateutil
+import dateutil.parser
+import dateutil.relativedelta
+import dateutil.rrule
+import dateutil.tz
+mods = {'parser', 'relativedelta', 'rrule', 'tz'}
+attribs = {atr for m in mods for atr in getattr(dateutil, m).__all__}
+dateutil = wrap_module(dateutil, mods | attribs)
+
 
 class IrActions(models.Model):
     _name = 'ir.actions.actions'
diff --git a/odoo/tools/misc.py b/odoo/tools/misc.py
index 17518ce1525..a036932f6fc 100644
--- a/odoo/tools/misc.py
+++ b/odoo/tools/misc.py
@@ -1151,3 +1151,23 @@ pickle.load = _pickle_load
 pickle.loads = lambda text, encoding='ASCII': _pickle_load(io.BytesIO(text), encoding=encoding)
 pickle.dump = pickle_.dump
 pickle.dumps = pickle_.dumps
+
+def wrap_module(module, attr_list):
+    """Helper for wrapping a package/module to expose selected attributes
+
+       :param Module module: the actual package/module to wrap, as returned by ``import <module>``
+       :param iterable attr_list: a global list of attributes to expose, usually the top-level
+            attributes and their own main attributes. No support for hiding attributes in case
+            of name collision at different levels.
+    """
+    attr_list = set(attr_list)
+    class WrappedModule(object):
+        def __getattr__(self, attrib):
+            if attrib in attr_list:
+                target = getattr(module, attrib)
+                if isinstance(target, types.ModuleType):
+                    return wrap_module(target, attr_list)
+                return target
+            raise AttributeError(attrib)
+    # module and attr_list are in the closure
+    return WrappedModule()