diff --git a/src/main/java/spoon/Launcher.java b/src/main/java/spoon/Launcher.java
index 5ba434f7c8f..b18a4403438 100644
--- a/src/main/java/spoon/Launcher.java
+++ b/src/main/java/spoon/Launcher.java
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.ResourceBundle;
 
+import static spoon.support.StandardEnvironment.DEFAULT_CODE_COMPLIANCE_LEVEL;
+
 /**
  * This class implements an integrated command-line launcher for processing
  * programs at compile-time using the JDT-based builder (Eclipse). It takes
@@ -237,7 +239,7 @@ protected static JSAP defineArgs() {
 			opt2.setLongFlag("compliance");
 			opt2.setHelp("Java source code compliance level (1,2,3,4,5, 6, 7 or 8).");
 			opt2.setStringParser(JSAP.INTEGER_PARSER);
-			opt2.setDefault("8");
+			opt2.setDefault(DEFAULT_CODE_COMPLIANCE_LEVEL + "");
 			jsap.registerParameter(opt2);
 
 			// compiler's encoding
diff --git a/src/main/java/spoon/support/StandardEnvironment.java b/src/main/java/spoon/support/StandardEnvironment.java
index 0698044a34b..aabb9b91f9d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/spoon/support/StandardEnvironment.java
+++ b/src/main/java/spoon/support/StandardEnvironment.java
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ public class StandardEnvironment implements Serializable, Environment {
 
 	private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
 
+	public static final int DEFAULT_CODE_COMPLIANCE_LEVEL = 8;
+
 	private FileGenerator<? extends CtElement> defaultFileGenerator;
 
 	private int errorCount = 0;
@@ -92,6 +94,8 @@ public class StandardEnvironment implements Serializable, Environment {
 
 	private Charset encoding = Charset.defaultCharset();
 
+	int complianceLevel = DEFAULT_CODE_COMPLIANCE_LEVEL;
+
 	/**
 	 * Creates a new environment with a <code>null</code> default file
 	 * generator.
@@ -306,7 +310,7 @@ public void setProcessingStopped(boolean processingStopped) {
 	public void setVerbose(boolean verbose) {
 	}
 
-	int complianceLevel = 7;
+
 
 	public int getComplianceLevel() {
 		return complianceLevel;