diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 8eff69e1a..0df00e01c 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -65,22 +65,7 @@
     <maven.compiler.target>${java.version}</maven.compiler.target>
   </properties>
 
-  <dependencies>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
-      <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
-      <version>1.2</version>
-      <scope>provided</scope>
-      <optional>true</optional>
-    </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>log4j</groupId>
-      <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
-      <version>1.2.17</version>
-      <scope>runtime</scope>
-      <optional>true</optional>
-    </dependency>
-    
+  <dependencies>    
     <dependency>
       <groupId>junit</groupId>
       <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/util/CommonsLogger.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/util/CommonsLogger.java
deleted file mode 100644
index a204fde17..000000000
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/util/CommonsLogger.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,225 +0,0 @@
-
-/* ====================================================================
-   Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
-   contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
-   this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
-   The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
-   (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
-   the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-   limitations under the License.
-==================================================================== */
-        
-
-package org.apache.poi.util;
-
-import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
-import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
-
-/**
- * A logger class that strives to make it as easy as possible for
- * developers to write log calls, while simultaneously making those
- * calls as cheap as possible by performing lazy evaluation of the log
- * message.<p>
- */
-public class CommonsLogger extends POILogger
-{
-    private static final LogFactory   _creator = LogFactory.getFactory();
-    private Log             log   = null;
-
-    @Override
-    public void initialize(final String cat)
-    {
-        this.log = _creator.getInstance(cat);
-    }   
-     
-    /**
-     * Log a message
-     *
-     * @param level One of DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, FATAL
-     * @param obj1 The object to log.
-     */
-    @Override
-    protected void _log(final int level, final Object obj1)
-    {
-        // FIXME: What happens if level is in between two levels (an even number)?
-        // Should this be `if (level >= FATAL) ...`?
-        if(level==FATAL)
-        {
-          if(log.isFatalEnabled())
-          {
-            log.fatal(obj1);
-          }
-        }
-        else if(level==ERROR)
-        {
-          if(log.isErrorEnabled())
-          {
-            log.error(obj1);
-          }
-        }
-        else if(level==WARN)
-        {
-          if(log.isWarnEnabled())
-          {
-            log.warn(obj1);
-          }
-        }
-        else if(level==INFO)
-        {
-          if(log.isInfoEnabled())
-          {
-            log.info(obj1);
-          }
-        }
-        else if(level==DEBUG)
-        {
-          if(log.isDebugEnabled())
-          {
-            log.debug(obj1);
-          }
-        }
-        else
-        {
-          if(log.isTraceEnabled())
-          {
-            log.trace(obj1);
-          }
-        }
-    }
-    
-    /**
-     * Log a message
-     *
-     * @param level One of DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, FATAL
-     * @param obj1 The object to log.  This is converted to a string.
-     * @param exception An exception to be logged
-     */
-    @Override
-    protected void _log(final int level, final Object obj1,
-                    final Throwable exception) 
-    {
-        // FIXME: What happens if level is in between two levels (an even number)?
-        // Should this be `if (level >= FATAL) ...`?
-        if(level==FATAL)
-        {
-          if(log.isFatalEnabled())
-          {
-            if(obj1 != null)
-               log.fatal(obj1, exception);
-            else
-               log.fatal(exception);
-          }
-        }
-        else if(level==ERROR)
-        {
-          if(log.isErrorEnabled())
-          {
-            if(obj1 != null)
-               log.error(obj1, exception);
-            else
-               log.error(exception);
-          }
-        }
-        else if(level==WARN)
-        {
-          if(log.isWarnEnabled())
-          {
-            if(obj1 != null)
-               log.warn(obj1, exception);
-            else
-               log.warn(exception);
-          }
-        }
-        else if(level==INFO)
-        {
-          if(log.isInfoEnabled())
-          {
-        	if(obj1 != null)
-               log.info(obj1, exception);
-        	else
-        	   log.info(exception);
-          }
-        }
-        else if(level==DEBUG)
-        {
-          if(log.isDebugEnabled())
-          {
-        	if(obj1 != null)
-               log.debug(obj1, exception);
-        	else
-        	   log.debug(exception);
-          }
-        }
-        else
-        {
-          if(log.isTraceEnabled())
-          {
-        	if(obj1 != null)
-               log.trace(obj1, exception);
-        	else
-        	   log.trace(exception);
-          }
-        }
-
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Check if a logger is enabled to log at the specified level
-     *
-     * @param level One of DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, FATAL
-     */
-    @Override
-    public boolean check(final int level)
-    {
-        // FIXME: What happens if level is in between two levels (an even number)?
-        // Should this be `if (level >= FATAL) ...`?
-        if(level==FATAL)
-        {
-          if(log.isFatalEnabled())
-          {
-            return true;
-          }
-        }
-        else if(level==ERROR)
-        {
-          if(log.isErrorEnabled())
-          {
-            return true;
-          }
-        }
-        else if(level==WARN)
-        {
-          if(log.isWarnEnabled())
-          {
-            return true;
-          }
-        }
-        else if(level==INFO)
-        {
-          if(log.isInfoEnabled())
-          {
-            return true;
-          }
-        }
-        else if(level==DEBUG)
-        {
-          if(log.isDebugEnabled())
-          {
-            return true;
-          }
-        }
-
-        return false;
-
-    }
-
- 
-}   // end package scope class POILogger
-