diff --git a/VectoCore/VectoCore/Models/Declaration/DeclarationData.cs b/VectoCore/VectoCore/Models/Declaration/DeclarationData.cs
index 802f73e90afbea5707b4f2799b952802504bb8fd..047d17117fba332b17e2193e1bce0e1b11bcca23 100644
--- a/VectoCore/VectoCore/Models/Declaration/DeclarationData.cs
+++ b/VectoCore/VectoCore/Models/Declaration/DeclarationData.cs
@@ -242,6 +242,7 @@ namespace TUGraz.VectoCore.Models.Declaration
 			// TODO: MQ 2019-11-26 remove, once the parameters are fixed! make fields above read-only or const
 			static GearboxTCU()
 			{
+#if RELEASE_CANDIDATE
 				var expectedFile = @"Declaration\EffShiftParameters.vtcu";
 				if (!File.Exists(expectedFile)) {
 					return;
@@ -287,8 +288,8 @@ namespace TUGraz.VectoCore.Models.Declaration
 				if (tmp != null && tmp.Body["ShiftStrategy"] != null) {
 					DefaultShiftStrategy = tmp.Body["ShiftStrategy"].Value<string>();
 				}
-			}
-
+#endif
+			}	
 		}
 
 		public static class Gearbox