diff --git a/R/pkg/NAMESPACE b/R/pkg/NAMESPACE
index 673a44183d683..709057675e578 100644
--- a/R/pkg/NAMESPACE
+++ b/R/pkg/NAMESPACE
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 # Imports from base R
+# Do not include stats:: "rpois", "runif" - causes error at runtime
 importFrom("methods", "setGeneric", "setMethod", "setOldClass")
 importFrom("methods", "is", "new", "signature", "show")
-importFrom("stats", "gaussian", "rpois", "runif", "setNames")
+importFrom("stats", "gaussian", "setNames")
 importFrom("utils", "download.file", "packageVersion", "untar")
 
 # Disable native libraries till we figure out how to package it
diff --git a/R/pkg/R/RDD.R b/R/pkg/R/RDD.R
index 6b254bb0d302c..6cd0704003f1a 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/RDD.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/RDD.R
@@ -887,17 +887,17 @@ setMethod("sampleRDD",
 
               # Discards some random values to ensure each partition has a
               # different random seed.
-              runif(partIndex)
+              stats::runif(partIndex)
 
               for (elem in part) {
                 if (withReplacement) {
-                  count <- rpois(1, fraction)
+                  count <- stats::rpois(1, fraction)
                   if (count > 0) {
                     res[ (len + 1) : (len + count) ] <- rep(list(elem), count)
                     len <- len + count
                   }
                 } else {
-                  if (runif(1) < fraction) {
+                  if (stats::runif(1) < fraction) {
                     len <- len + 1
                     res[[len]] <- elem
                   }
@@ -965,7 +965,7 @@ setMethod("takeSample", signature(x = "RDD", withReplacement = "logical",
 
             set.seed(seed)
             samples <- collectRDD(sampleRDD(x, withReplacement, fraction,
-                                         as.integer(ceiling(runif(1,
+                                         as.integer(ceiling(stats::runif(1,
                                                                   -MAXINT,
                                                                   MAXINT)))))
             # If the first sample didn't turn out large enough, keep trying to
@@ -973,7 +973,7 @@ setMethod("takeSample", signature(x = "RDD", withReplacement = "logical",
             # multiplier for thei initial size
             while (length(samples) < total)
               samples <- collectRDD(sampleRDD(x, withReplacement, fraction,
-                                           as.integer(ceiling(runif(1,
+                                           as.integer(ceiling(stats::runif(1,
                                                                     -MAXINT,
                                                                     MAXINT)))))
 
diff --git a/R/pkg/R/pairRDD.R b/R/pkg/R/pairRDD.R
index f0605db1e9e83..4dee3245f9b75 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/pairRDD.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/pairRDD.R
@@ -917,19 +917,19 @@ setMethod("sampleByKey",
               len <- 0
 
               # mixing because the initial seeds are close to each other
-              runif(10)
+              stats::runif(10)
 
               for (elem in part) {
                 if (elem[[1]] %in% names(fractions)) {
                   frac <- as.numeric(fractions[which(elem[[1]] == names(fractions))])
                   if (withReplacement) {
-                    count <- rpois(1, frac)
+                    count <- stats::rpois(1, frac)
                     if (count > 0) {
                       res[ (len + 1) : (len + count) ] <- rep(list(elem), count)
                       len <- len + count
                     }
                   } else {
-                    if (runif(1) < frac) {
+                    if (stats::runif(1) < frac) {
                       len <- len + 1
                       res[[len]] <- elem
                     }