diff --git a/packages/babel-parser/src/tokenizer/index.js b/packages/babel-parser/src/tokenizer/index.js
index c8773f9bbe2a..54e9919fb0aa 100644
--- a/packages/babel-parser/src/tokenizer/index.js
+++ b/packages/babel-parser/src/tokenizer/index.js
@@ -381,14 +381,8 @@ export default class Tokenizer extends LocationParser {
     }
 
     if (
-      (this.hasPlugin("classPrivateProperties") ||
-        this.hasPlugin("classPrivateMethods")) &&
-      this.state.classLevel > 0
-    ) {
-      ++this.state.pos;
-      this.finishToken(tt.hash);
-      return;
-    } else if (
+      this.hasPlugin("classPrivateProperties") ||
+      this.hasPlugin("classPrivateMethods") ||
       this.getPluginOption("pipelineOperator", "proposal") === "smart"
     ) {
       this.finishOp(tt.hash, 1);
diff --git a/packages/babel-parser/test/fixtures/experimental/class-private-properties/undeclared-top-level/options.json b/packages/babel-parser/test/fixtures/experimental/class-private-properties/undeclared-top-level/options.json
index 9682fa229092..1a24d82b0b75 100644
--- a/packages/babel-parser/test/fixtures/experimental/class-private-properties/undeclared-top-level/options.json
+++ b/packages/babel-parser/test/fixtures/experimental/class-private-properties/undeclared-top-level/options.json
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 {
   "plugins": ["classPrivateProperties"],
-  "throws": "Unexpected character '#' (1:15)"
+  "throws": "Private name #priv is not defined (1:15)"
 }
\ No newline at end of file