diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4537ad3f8bc..d8138ce350b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   ([#4979](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/4979))
 - `opentelemetry-sdk`: Map Python `CRITICAL` log level to OTel `FATAL` severity text per the specification
   ([#4984](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/issues/4984))
+- `opentelemetry-sdk`: fix `BatchProcessor.force_flush` to respect `timeout_millis`, previously the timeout was ignored and the flush would block until all telemetry was exported
+  ([#4982](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/4982))
 - `opentelemetry-sdk`: Add file configuration support with YAML/JSON loading, environment variable substitution, and schema validation against the vendored OTel config JSON schema
   ([#4898](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/4898))
 - Fix intermittent CI failures in `getting-started` and `tracecontext` jobs caused by GitHub git CDN SHA propagation lag by installing contrib packages from the already-checked-out local copy instead of a second git clone
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/_shared_internal/__init__.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/_shared_internal/__init__.py
index cde19165d62..f18aec2e9ff 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/_shared_internal/__init__.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/_shared_internal/__init__.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 import enum
 import inspect
 import logging
+import math
 import os
 import threading
 import time
@@ -176,12 +177,19 @@ def worker(self):
             self._worker_awaken.clear()
         self._export(BatchExportStrategy.EXPORT_ALL)
 
-    def _export(self, batch_strategy: BatchExportStrategy) -> None:
+    def _export(
+        self,
+        batch_strategy: BatchExportStrategy,
+        deadline: float = math.inf,
+    ) -> bool:
+        # Returns True if all batches were exported, False if deadline was reached.
         with self._export_lock:
             iteration = 0
             # We could see concurrent export calls from worker and force_flush. We call _should_export_batch
             # once the lock is obtained to see if we still need to make the requested export.
             while self._should_export_batch(batch_strategy, iteration):
+                if time.time() >= deadline:
+                    return False
                 iteration += 1
                 token = attach(set_value(_SUPPRESS_INSTRUMENTATION_KEY, True))
                 error: Exception | None = None
@@ -206,6 +214,7 @@ def _export(self, batch_strategy: BatchExportStrategy) -> None:
                 finally:
                     self._metrics.finish_items(count, error)
                 detach(token)
+        return True
 
     def emit(self, data: Telemetry) -> None:
         if self._shutdown:
@@ -248,10 +257,13 @@ def shutdown(self, timeout_millis: int = 30000):
         # call is ongoing and the thread isn't finished. In this case we will return instead of waiting on
         # the thread to finish.
 
-    # TODO: Fix force flush so the timeout is used https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/issues/4568.
     def force_flush(self, timeout_millis: Optional[int] = None) -> bool:
         if self._shutdown:
             return False
+        deadline = (
+            time.time() + (timeout_millis / 1000)
+            if timeout_millis is not None
+            else math.inf
+        )
         # Blocking call to export.
-        self._export(BatchExportStrategy.EXPORT_ALL)
-        return True
+        return self._export(BatchExportStrategy.EXPORT_ALL, deadline)
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/shared_internal/test_batch_processor.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/shared_internal/test_batch_processor.py
index f5ed15110b9..e3b6babb9ef 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/shared_internal/test_batch_processor.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/shared_internal/test_batch_processor.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 import threading
 import time
 import unittest
+import unittest.mock
 import weakref
 from platform import system
 from typing import Any
@@ -171,6 +172,77 @@ def test_force_flush_flushes_telemetry(
         exporter.export.assert_called_once_with([telemetry for _ in range(10)])
         batch_processor.shutdown()
 
+    # pylint: disable=no-self-use
+    def test_force_flush_returns_true_when_all_exported(
+        self, batch_processor_class, telemetry
+    ):
+        exporter = Mock()
+        batch_processor = batch_processor_class(
+            exporter,
+            max_queue_size=15,
+            max_export_batch_size=15,
+            schedule_delay_millis=30000,
+            export_timeout_millis=500,
+        )
+        for _ in range(10):
+            batch_processor._batch_processor.emit(telemetry)
+        result = batch_processor.force_flush(timeout_millis=5000)
+        assert result is True
+        exporter.export.assert_called_once()
+        batch_processor.shutdown()
+
+    # pylint: disable=no-self-use
+    def test_force_flush_returns_false_when_timeout_exceeded(
+        self, batch_processor_class, telemetry
+    ):
+        exporter = Mock()
+        batch_processor = batch_processor_class(
+            exporter,
+            max_queue_size=15,
+            max_export_batch_size=1,
+            schedule_delay_millis=30000,
+            export_timeout_millis=500,
+        )
+        # Stop the worker thread first so it cannot export or interfere.
+        batch_processor._batch_processor._shutdown = True
+        batch_processor._batch_processor._worker_awaken.set()
+        batch_processor._batch_processor._worker_thread.join()
+        # Reset _shutdown so force_flush is not a no-op.
+        batch_processor._batch_processor._shutdown = False
+        # Emit items after worker is stopped.
+        for _ in range(3):
+            batch_processor._batch_processor.emit(telemetry)
+        # Mock time.time(): first call computes deadline, second call is past it.
+        start = time.time()
+        with unittest.mock.patch(
+            "opentelemetry.sdk._shared_internal.time.time",
+            side_effect=[start, start + 1000],
+        ):
+            result = batch_processor.force_flush(timeout_millis=100)
+        assert result is False
+        batch_processor._batch_processor._shutdown = True
+        batch_processor._batch_processor._exporter.shutdown()
+
+    # pylint: disable=no-self-use
+    def test_force_flush_returns_false_when_shutdown(
+        self, batch_processor_class, telemetry
+    ):
+        exporter = Mock()
+        batch_processor = batch_processor_class(
+            exporter,
+            max_queue_size=15,
+            max_export_batch_size=15,
+            schedule_delay_millis=30000,
+            export_timeout_millis=500,
+        )
+        batch_processor.shutdown()
+        for _ in range(10):
+            batch_processor._batch_processor.emit(telemetry)
+        result = batch_processor.force_flush(timeout_millis=5000)
+        assert result is False
+        # Nothing should have been exported after shutdown.
+        exporter.export.assert_not_called()
+
     @unittest.skipUnless(
         hasattr(os, "fork"),
         "needs *nix",