diff --git a/conlite/includes/functions.php54.php b/conlite/includes/functions.php54.php
deleted file mode 100644
index f037d44..0000000
--- a/conlite/includes/functions.php54.php
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,132 +0,0 @@
-<?php
-/** 
- * Description:
- * Fix functions for PHP 5.4
- * 
- * @package Core
- * @subpackage CL-Includes
- * @author Ortwin Pinke <ortwin.pinke@conlite.org>
- * @copyright (c) 2014, www.conlite.org
- * @version $Rev$
- * 
- * $Id$
- */
-
-// security
-if (!defined('CON_FRAMEWORK')) {
-    die('Illegal call');
-}
-
-/**
- * 
- * @return string
- */
-function clCheckForPhp54() {
-    if(!defined("CL_PHP54")) {
-        /**
-         * PHP-version equal or greater PHP 5.4
-         * @constant CL_PHP54 phpversion >= 5.4
-         */
-        define('CL_PHP54', version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.4.0', '>=') ? 1:0);
-    }
-    return CL_PHP54;
-}
-
-function clPhp54FixedFunc($funcname, $value, $flags = '', $encoding = '') {
-    if(clCheckForPhp54()) {
-        if($funcname == "get_html_translation_table") {
-            $value = ($value == '') ? HTML_SPECIALCHARS : $value;
-        }
-        $flags = (empty($flags))?ENT_COMPAT|ENT_HTML401:$flags;
-        $encoding = (empty($encoding))?'ISO-8859-1':$encoding;
-    } else {
-        $flags = (empty($flags))?ENT_COMPAT:$flags;
-    }
-    
-    if($funcname == "get_html_translation_table") {
-        return $funcname($value, $flags);
-    } else {
-        return $funcname($value, $flags, $encoding);
-    }
-}
-
-/**
- *
- * @uses clPhp54FixedFunc multi fix func for PHP5.4
- * @author Ortwin Pinke <ortwinpinke@conlite.org>
- * 
- * @param string $value
- * @param mixed $flags
- * @param string $encoding
- * @return string
- */
-/*
-function clHtmlSpecialChars($value, $flags = '', $encoding = '') {    
-    return clPhp54FixedFunc("htmlspecialchars", $value, $flags, $encoding);
-}
-*/
-/**
- * 
- * @uses clPhp54FixedFunc multi fix func for PHP5.4
- * @author Ortwin Pinke <ortwinpinke@conlite.org>
- * 
- * @param string $value
- * @param mixed $flags
- * @param string $encoding
- * @return string
- */
-/*
-function clHtmlEntityDecode($value, $flags = '', $encoding = '') {
-    return clPhp54FixedFunc("html_entity_decode", $value, $flags, $encoding);
-}
- * 
- */
-
-/**
- *
- * @uses clPhp54FixedFunc multi fix func for PHP5.4
- * @author Ortwin Pinke <ortwinpinke@conlite.org>
- * 
- * @param string $value
- * @param mixed $flags
- * @param string $encoding
- * @return string
- */
-/*
-function clHtmlEntities($value, $flags = '', $encoding = '') {
-    return clPhp54FixedFunc("htmlentities", $value, $flags, $encoding);
-}
- * 
- */
-
-/**
- * 
- * @uses clPhp54FixedFunc multi fix func for PHP5.4
- * @author Ortwin Pinke <ortwinpinke@conlite.org>
- * 
- * @param string $table
- * @param mixed $flags
- * @return string
- */
-/*
-function clGetHtmlTranslationTable($table = '', $flags = '') {
-    return clPhp54FixedFunc("get_html_translation_table", $table, $flags);
-}
- * 
- */
-
-
-// hold old functions from con 4.8 but use new ConLite functions, mark them as deprecated
-
-/**
- * Use compatible clHtmlSpecialChars instead
- * @deprecated since version 2.0
- */
-/**
-if (function_exists('conHtmlSpecialChars') == false) {
-	function conHtmlSpecialChars($value, $flags = '', $encoding = '') {
-		return clHtmlSpecialChars($value, $flags, $encoding);
-	}
-}
- * 
- */
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/conlite/includes/functions.php73.php b/conlite/includes/functions.php73.php
deleted file mode 100644
index f40d910..0000000
--- a/conlite/includes/functions.php73.php
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,38 +0,0 @@
-<?php
-
-/**
- * PHP 7.3 functions for older PHP versions
- * 
- * @package Core
- * @subpackage functions
- * @version $Rev$
- * @since 2.0.3
- * @author Ortwin Pinke <o.pinke@conlite.org>
- * @copyright (c) 2019, conlite.org
- * @license http://www.gnu.de/documents/gpl.en.html GPL v3 (english version)
- * @license http://www.gnu.de/documents/gpl.de.html GPL v3 (deutsche Version)
- * @link http://www.conlite.org ConLite.org
- * 
- * $Id$
- */
-// security check
-defined('CON_FRAMEWORK') or die('Illegal call');
-
-
-if (!function_exists('is_countable')) {
-
-    /**
-     * Verify that the contents of a variable is a countable value
-     * <p>Verify that the contents of a variable is an <code>array</code> or an object implementing Countable</p>
-     * @param mixed $var <p>The value to check</p>
-     * @return bool <p>Returns <b><code>TRUE</code></b> if <code>var</code> is countable, <b><code>FALSE</code></b> otherwise.</p>
-     * @link http://php.net/manual/en/function.is-countable.php
-     * 
-     * @param Countable $var
-     * @return boolean
-     */
-    function is_countable($var) {
-        return (is_array($var) || $var instanceof Countable);
-    }
-
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/conlite/includes/startup.php b/conlite/includes/startup.php
index 034fc86..5eca71e 100644
--- a/conlite/includes/startup.php
+++ b/conlite/includes/startup.php
@@ -75,13 +75,6 @@ define('CL_VERSION', '3.0.0 RC');
 
 }
 
-// fixed functions for PHP 5.4 and later
-// @todo: Check what is needed for PHP7+
-include_once(str_replace('\\', '/', realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/..')) . '/includes/functions.php54.php');
-
-// simulate PHP 7.3 functions
-include_once(str_replace('\\', '/', realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/..')) . '/includes/functions.php73.php');
-
 // 1. security check: Include security class and invoke basic request checks
 include_once(str_replace('\\', '/', realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/..')) . '/classes/class.security.php');
 try {