diff --git a/processor/attributesprocessor/attributes.go b/processor/attributesprocessor/attributes.go
index befb10d701..4f03f300dc 100644
--- a/processor/attributesprocessor/attributes.go
+++ b/processor/attributesprocessor/attributes.go
@@ -126,6 +126,11 @@ func (a *attributesProcessor) GetCapabilities() processor.Capabilities {
 	return processor.Capabilities{MutatesConsumedData: true}
 }
 
+// Shutdown is invoked during service shutdown.
+func (a *attributesProcessor) Shutdown() error {
+	return nil
+}
+
 func insertAttribute(action attributeAction, attributesMap map[string]*tracepb.AttributeValue) {
 	// Insert is only performed when the target key does not already exist
 	// in the attribute map.
diff --git a/processor/nodebatcherprocessor/node_batcher.go b/processor/nodebatcherprocessor/node_batcher.go
index e05ae0e695..f37f519259 100644
--- a/processor/nodebatcherprocessor/node_batcher.go
+++ b/processor/nodebatcherprocessor/node_batcher.go
@@ -113,6 +113,12 @@ func (b *batcher) GetCapabilities() processor.Capabilities {
 	return processor.Capabilities{MutatesConsumedData: false}
 }
 
+// Shutdown is invoked during service shutdown.
+func (b *batcher) Shutdown() error {
+	// TODO: flush accumulated data.
+	return nil
+}
+
 func (b *batcher) genBucketID(node *commonpb.Node, resource *resourcepb.Resource, spanFormat string) string {
 	h := sha256.New()
 	if node != nil {
diff --git a/processor/probabilisticsamplerprocessor/probabilisticsampler.go b/processor/probabilisticsamplerprocessor/probabilisticsampler.go
index 01c6a3cb7e..6bac3a3390 100644
--- a/processor/probabilisticsamplerprocessor/probabilisticsampler.go
+++ b/processor/probabilisticsamplerprocessor/probabilisticsampler.go
@@ -86,6 +86,11 @@ func (tsp *tracesamplerprocessor) GetCapabilities() processor.Capabilities {
 	return processor.Capabilities{MutatesConsumedData: false}
 }
 
+// Shutdown is invoked during service shutdown.
+func (tsp *tracesamplerprocessor) Shutdown() error {
+	return nil
+}
+
 // hash is a murmur3 hash function, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MurmurHash.
 func hash(key []byte, seed uint32) (hash uint32) {
 	const (
diff --git a/processor/processor.go b/processor/processor.go
index c6594a76a7..304537d985 100644
--- a/processor/processor.go
+++ b/processor/processor.go
@@ -19,16 +19,27 @@ import (
 	"github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector/consumer"
 )
 
+// Processor defines the common functions that must be implemented by TraceProcessor
+// and MetricsProcessor.
+type Processor interface {
+	// GetCapabilities must return the capabilities of the processor.
+	GetCapabilities() Capabilities
+
+	// Shutdown is invoked during service shutdown. Typically used to flush the data
+	// that may be accumulated in the processor.
+	Shutdown() error
+}
+
 // TraceProcessor composes TraceConsumer with some additional processor-specific functions.
 type TraceProcessor interface {
 	consumer.TraceConsumer
-	GetCapabilities() Capabilities
+	Processor
 }
 
 // MetricsProcessor composes MetricsConsumer with some additional processor-specific functions.
 type MetricsProcessor interface {
 	consumer.MetricsConsumer
-	GetCapabilities() Capabilities
+	Processor
 }
 
 // Capabilities describes the capabilities of TraceProcessor or MetricsProcessor.
diff --git a/processor/processortest/nop_processor.go b/processor/processortest/nop_processor.go
index e72fa57971..073fe0f371 100644
--- a/processor/processortest/nop_processor.go
+++ b/processor/processortest/nop_processor.go
@@ -45,6 +45,11 @@ func (np *nopProcessor) GetCapabilities() processor.Capabilities {
 	return processor.Capabilities{MutatesConsumedData: false}
 }
 
+// Shutdown is invoked during service shutdown.
+func (np *nopProcessor) Shutdown() error {
+	return nil
+}
+
 // NewNopTraceProcessor creates an TraceProcessor that just pass the received data to the nextTraceProcessor.
 func NewNopTraceProcessor(nextTraceProcessor consumer.TraceConsumer) consumer.TraceConsumer {
 	return &nopProcessor{nextTraceProcessor: nextTraceProcessor}
diff --git a/processor/queuedprocessor/queued_processor.go b/processor/queuedprocessor/queued_processor.go
index 44dcec0e91..42bd2380c0 100644
--- a/processor/queuedprocessor/queued_processor.go
+++ b/processor/queuedprocessor/queued_processor.go
@@ -135,6 +135,12 @@ func (sp *queuedSpanProcessor) GetCapabilities() processor.Capabilities {
 	return processor.Capabilities{MutatesConsumedData: false}
 }
 
+// Shutdown is invoked during service shutdown.
+func (sp *queuedSpanProcessor) Shutdown() error {
+	// TODO: flush the queue.
+	return nil
+}
+
 func (sp *queuedSpanProcessor) processItemFromQueue(item *queueItem) {
 	startTime := time.Now()
 	err := sp.sender.ConsumeTraceData(item.ctx, item.td)
diff --git a/processor/spanprocessor/span.go b/processor/spanprocessor/span.go
index c6c58d445d..fcd7a6ee2d 100644
--- a/processor/spanprocessor/span.go
+++ b/processor/spanprocessor/span.go
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ func (sp *spanProcessor) GetCapabilities() processor.Capabilities {
 	return processor.Capabilities{MutatesConsumedData: true}
 }
 
+// Shutdown is invoked during service shutdown.
+func (sp *spanProcessor) Shutdown() error {
+	return nil
+}
+
 func (sp *spanProcessor) nameSpan(span *tracepb.Span) {
 	// Note: There was a separate proposal for creating the string.
 	// With benchmarking, strings.Builder is faster than the proposal.
diff --git a/processor/tailsamplingprocessor/processor.go b/processor/tailsamplingprocessor/processor.go
index 93589fd6fb..083a7813c4 100644
--- a/processor/tailsamplingprocessor/processor.go
+++ b/processor/tailsamplingprocessor/processor.go
@@ -315,6 +315,11 @@ func (tsp *tailSamplingSpanProcessor) GetCapabilities() processor.Capabilities {
 	return processor.Capabilities{MutatesConsumedData: false}
 }
 
+// Shutdown is invoked during service shutdown.
+func (tsp *tailSamplingSpanProcessor) Shutdown() error {
+	return nil
+}
+
 func (tsp *tailSamplingSpanProcessor) dropTrace(traceID traceKey, deletionTime time.Time) {
 	var trace *sampling.TraceData
 	if d, ok := tsp.idToTrace.Load(traceID); ok {
diff --git a/processor/tailsamplingprocessor/processor_test.go b/processor/tailsamplingprocessor/processor_test.go
index d9f9139edf..4a1f122ba6 100644
--- a/processor/tailsamplingprocessor/processor_test.go
+++ b/processor/tailsamplingprocessor/processor_test.go
@@ -331,3 +331,8 @@ func (p *mockSpanProcessor) ConsumeTraceData(ctx context.Context, td consumerdat
 func (p *mockSpanProcessor) GetCapabilities() processor.Capabilities {
 	return processor.Capabilities{MutatesConsumedData: false}
 }
+
+// Shutdown is invoked during service shutdown.
+func (p *mockSpanProcessor) Shutdown() error {
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/service/service.go b/service/service.go
index 78d9ba0dec..80983067c6 100644
--- a/service/service.go
+++ b/service/service.go
@@ -284,7 +284,8 @@ func (app *Application) shutdownPipelines() {
 	app.logger.Info("Stopping receivers...")
 	app.builtReceivers.StopAll()
 
-	// TODO: shutdown processors
+	// TODO: shutdown processors by calling Shutdown() for each processor in the
+	// order they are arranged in the pipeline.
 
 	app.logger.Info("Shutting down exporters...")
 	app.exporters.ShutdownAll()