diff --git a/src/main/java/org/alfresco/util/ApplicationContextHelper.java b/src/main/java/org/alfresco/util/ApplicationContextHelper.java
index bea937338f..607020fb21 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/alfresco/util/ApplicationContextHelper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/alfresco/util/ApplicationContextHelper.java
@@ -1,28 +1,28 @@
-/*
- * #%L
- * Alfresco Repository
- * %%
- * Copyright (C) 2005 - 2016 Alfresco Software Limited
- * %%
- * This file is part of the Alfresco software. 
- * If the software was purchased under a paid Alfresco license, the terms of 
- * the paid license agreement will prevail.  Otherwise, the software is 
- * provided under the following open source license terms:
- * 
- * Alfresco is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
- * it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
- * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
- * (at your option) any later version.
- * 
- * Alfresco is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
- * GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
- * 
- * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
- * along with Alfresco. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
- * #L%
- */
+/*
+ * #%L
+ * Alfresco Repository
+ * %%
+ * Copyright (C) 2005 - 2016 Alfresco Software Limited
+ * %%
+ * This file is part of the Alfresco software. 
+ * If the software was purchased under a paid Alfresco license, the terms of 
+ * the paid license agreement will prevail.  Otherwise, the software is 
+ * provided under the following open source license terms:
+ * 
+ * Alfresco is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ * 
+ * Alfresco is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ * 
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+ * along with Alfresco. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ * #L%
+ */
 package org.alfresco.util;
 
 import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
@@ -31,9 +31,13 @@ import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
 /**
  * Helper class to provide static and common access to the Spring
  * {@link org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext application context}.
- * 
+ * <p>
+ *     <strong>Deprecated.</strong> It is better to use Spring annotations to define the application context to use in tests,
+ *     see {@code org.alfresco.util.BaseSpringTest}
+ * </p>
  * @author Derek Hulley
  */
+@Deprecated
 public class ApplicationContextHelper extends BaseApplicationContextHelper
 {   
     /** location of required configuration files */