diff --git a/opentelemetry-api/src/logs/record.rs b/opentelemetry-api/src/logs/record.rs
index c98b3a7581..a65310be39 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-api/src/logs/record.rs
+++ b/opentelemetry-api/src/logs/record.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ use crate::{
 };
 use std::{borrow::Cow, time::SystemTime};
 
-#[derive(Debug, Clone, Default)]
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 #[non_exhaustive]
 /// LogRecord represents all data carried by a log record, and
 /// is provided to `LogExporter`s as input.
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ pub struct LogRecord {
     pub timestamp: Option<SystemTime>,
 
     /// Timestamp for when the record was observed by OpenTelemetry
-    pub observed_timestamp: Option<SystemTime>,
+    pub observed_timestamp: SystemTime,
 
     /// Trace context for logs associated with spans
     pub trace_context: Option<TraceContext>,
@@ -30,6 +30,20 @@ pub struct LogRecord {
     pub attributes: Option<Vec<(Key, AnyValue)>>,
 }
 
+impl Default for LogRecord {
+    fn default() -> Self {
+        LogRecord {
+            timestamp: None,
+            observed_timestamp: SystemTime::now(),
+            trace_context: None,
+            severity_text: None,
+            severity_number: None,
+            body: None,
+            attributes: None,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 impl LogRecord {
     /// Create a [`LogRecordBuilder`] to create a new Log Record
     pub fn builder() -> LogRecordBuilder {
@@ -261,7 +275,7 @@ impl LogRecordBuilder {
     pub fn with_observed_timestamp(self, timestamp: SystemTime) -> Self {
         Self {
             record: LogRecord {
-                observed_timestamp: Some(timestamp),
+                observed_timestamp: timestamp,
                 ..self.record
             },
         }
diff --git a/opentelemetry-proto/src/transform/logs.rs b/opentelemetry-proto/src/transform/logs.rs
index 59d984bec5..9a3ff38108 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-proto/src/transform/logs.rs
+++ b/opentelemetry-proto/src/transform/logs.rs
@@ -87,10 +87,7 @@ pub mod tonic {
 
             LogRecord {
                 time_unix_nano: log_record.timestamp.map(to_nanos).unwrap_or_default(),
-                observed_time_unix_nano: log_record
-                    .observed_timestamp
-                    .map(to_nanos)
-                    .unwrap_or_default(),
+                observed_time_unix_nano: to_nanos(log_record.observed_timestamp),
                 severity_number: severity_number.into(),
                 severity_text: log_record.severity_text.map(Into::into).unwrap_or_default(),
                 body: log_record.body.map(Into::into),
diff --git a/opentelemetry-stdout/src/logs/transform.rs b/opentelemetry-stdout/src/logs/transform.rs
index ba0a0ceb78..9f4bf7bb21 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-stdout/src/logs/transform.rs
+++ b/opentelemetry-stdout/src/logs/transform.rs
@@ -74,11 +74,8 @@ struct LogRecord {
         serialize_with = "opt_as_unix_nano"
     )]
     time_unix_nano: Option<SystemTime>,
-    #[serde(
-        skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none",
-        serialize_with = "opt_as_unix_nano"
-    )]
-    observed_time_unix_nano: Option<SystemTime>,
+    #[serde(serialize_with = "as_unix_nano")]
+    observed_time_unix_nano: SystemTime,
     severity_number: u32,
     #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
     severity_text: Option<Cow<'static, str>>,
diff --git a/opentelemetry-user-events-logs/src/logs/exporter.rs b/opentelemetry-user-events-logs/src/logs/exporter.rs
index 8e5a098deb..2b93218bcf 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-user-events-logs/src/logs/exporter.rs
+++ b/opentelemetry-user-events-logs/src/logs/exporter.rs
@@ -194,14 +194,10 @@ impl UserEventsExporter {
                 eb.add_value("__csver__", 0x0401u16, FieldFormat::HexInt, 0);
 
                 // populate CS PartA
-                let event_time: SystemTime;
-                if log_data.record.timestamp.is_some() {
-                    event_time = log_data.record.timestamp.unwrap();
-                } else if log_data.record.observed_timestamp.is_some() {
-                    event_time = log_data.record.observed_timestamp.unwrap();
-                } else {
-                    event_time = SystemTime::now();
-                }
+                let event_time: SystemTime = log_data
+                    .record
+                    .timestamp
+                    .unwrap_or(log_data.record.observed_timestamp);
                 cs_a_count += 1; // for event_time
                 eb.add_struct("PartA", cs_a_count, 0);
                 {