diff --git a/litellm/integrations/custom_guardrail.py b/litellm/integrations/custom_guardrail.py
index 2407c0032a3..b1291d663bb 100644
--- a/litellm/integrations/custom_guardrail.py
+++ b/litellm/integrations/custom_guardrail.py
@@ -943,7 +943,7 @@ class CustomGuardrail(CustomLogger):
         result: object,
         call_type: str,
     ) -> tuple[dict, object]:  # mutable-ok: CustomLogger.async_logging_hook contract
-        """logging_only: run apply_guardrail on copies of the logged request/response and record the verdict."""
+        """logging_only: scan copies of the logged request and/or response according to logging_only_scope."""
         from litellm.llms import get_guardrail_translation_mapping
 
         if not self.uses_apply_guardrail_interface():
diff --git a/litellm/proxy/guardrails/guardrail_registry.py b/litellm/proxy/guardrails/guardrail_registry.py
index 6527f6be50b..0258b291d21 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/guardrails/guardrail_registry.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/guardrails/guardrail_registry.py
@@ -558,8 +558,13 @@ class InMemoryGuardrailHandler:
             config_file_path=config_file_path,
             llm_router=llm_router,
         )
-        for custom_guardrail_callback in created_callbacks:
-            _configure_callback_scoping(custom_guardrail_callback, guardrail["guardrail_name"], litellm_params)
+        try:
+            for custom_guardrail_callback in created_callbacks:
+                _configure_callback_scoping(custom_guardrail_callback, guardrail["guardrail_name"], litellm_params)
+        except Exception:
+            for custom_guardrail_callback in created_callbacks:
+                litellm.logging_callback_manager.remove_callback_from_all_lists(custom_guardrail_callback)
+            raise
 
         parsed_guardrail: Final = Guardrail(
             guardrail_id=guardrail.get("guardrail_id"),
diff --git a/tests/integration/observability/test_guardrail_effects.py b/tests/integration/observability/test_guardrail_effects.py
index 4e9691bd4e9..ad487b1f718 100644
--- a/tests/integration/observability/test_guardrail_effects.py
+++ b/tests/integration/observability/test_guardrail_effects.py
@@ -1391,3 +1391,62 @@ def test_logging_only_scope_observes_only_the_configured_direction_without_block
                 return_last_on_timeout=True,
             )
             assert detail["requestsEvaluated"] == len(scanned_directions), detail
+
+
+def test_logging_only_scope_without_logging_only_mode_is_skipped_at_load_and_never_blocks(
+    gateway: Gateway, tmp_path: Path
+) -> None:
+    identity: Final = "guardrail" + uuid.uuid4().hex
+    prompt: Final = "synthetic invalid-scope prompt " + identity
+    reply: Final = "synthetic invalid-scope reply " + identity
+
+    def guardrail(request: Request) -> Reply:
+        assert request.target == "/beta/litellm_basic_guardrail_api"
+        return Reply(body=json.dumps({"action": "BLOCKED", "blocked_reason": "synthetic policy denial"}).encode())
+
+    def provider(request: Request) -> Reply:
+        assert request.target == "/v1/chat/completions"
+        assert json.loads(request.body)["messages"] == [{"role": "user", "content": prompt}]
+        return Reply(
+            body=json.dumps(
+                {
+                    "id": identity,
+                    "object": "chat.completion",
+                    "created": 1,
+                    "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
+                    "choices": [
+                        {"index": 0, "message": {"role": "assistant", "content": reply}, "finish_reason": "stop"}
+                    ],
+                    "usage": {"prompt_tokens": 9, "completion_tokens": 5, "total_tokens": 14},
+                }
+            ).encode()
+        )
+
+    with wire_server(guardrail) as policy, wire_server(provider) as upstream:
+        config: Final = yaml.safe_load(Path("tests/integration/proxy_config.yaml").read_text())
+        config["guardrails"] = [
+            {
+                "guardrail_name": identity,
+                "litellm_params": {
+                    "guardrail": "generic_guardrail_api",
+                    "mode": "pre_call",
+                    "logging_only_scope": "input",
+                    "default_on": True,
+                    "api_base": policy.url,
+                    "api_key": "synthetic-guardrail-key",
+                },
+            }
+        ]
+        path: Final = tmp_path / "invalid-scope-pre-call.yaml"
+        path.write_text(yaml.safe_dump(config))
+        with owned_proxy(gateway, tmp_path, {}, config=path) as candidate, candidate.scenario() as scenario:
+            model: Final = scenario.model(api_base=upstream.url + "/v1")
+            response: Final = candidate.request(
+                "POST", "/v1/chat/completions", {"model": model, "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": prompt}]}
+            )
+            assert response.status_code == 200, response.text
+            assert response.json()["choices"][0]["message"]["content"] == reply, response.text
+            assert len(policy.drain()) == 0
+            assert len(upstream.drain()) == 1
+            guardrails: Final = candidate.get("/v2/guardrails/list")["guardrails"]
+            assert all(object_value(row)["guardrail_name"] != identity for row in guardrails), guardrails
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/guardrails/test_guardrail_registry.py b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/guardrails/test_guardrail_registry.py
index 45e652bff72..ddfdabf689d 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/guardrails/test_guardrail_registry.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/guardrails/test_guardrail_registry.py
@@ -967,19 +967,24 @@ class TestLoggingOnlyScopeValidation:
         scope: LoggingOnlyScope | None,
         callback_type: type[CustomGuardrail] = _LoggingOnlyScopeSupportedGuardrail,
     ) -> CustomGuardrail:
+        import litellm
         from litellm.proxy.guardrails import guardrail_registry as registry_module
 
         guardrail_type: Final = "logging_only_scope_test"
+        created_callbacks: Final[list[CustomGuardrail]] = []
 
         def _initializer(litellm_params: LitellmParams, guardrail: Guardrail) -> CustomGuardrail:
             supported_event_hooks: Final = (
                 [GuardrailEventHooks.logging_only] if callback_type.use_native_lifecycle_hooks else None
             )
-            return callback_type(
+            callback: Final = callback_type(
                 guardrail_name=guardrail["guardrail_name"],
                 event_hook=litellm_params.mode,
                 supported_event_hooks=supported_event_hooks,
             )
+            litellm.logging_callback_manager.add_litellm_callback(callback)
+            created_callbacks.append(callback)
+            return callback
 
         registry_module.guardrail_initializer_registry[guardrail_type] = _initializer
         lists: Final = _all_callback_lists()
@@ -1000,6 +1005,10 @@ class TestLoggingOnlyScopeValidation:
             callback: Final = handler.guardrail_id_to_custom_guardrail[result["guardrail_id"]]
             assert callback is not None
             return callback
+        except ValueError:
+            callback: Final = created_callbacks[0]
+            assert all(callback not in callback_list for callback_list in lists)
+            raise
         finally:
             for callback_list, snapshot in zip(lists, snapshots):
                 callback_list[:] = snapshot