diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 0e6402348..b56600f69 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -79,14 +79,7 @@
                 <plugin>
                     <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                     <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
-                    <version>2.17</version>
-                    <dependencies>
-                        <dependency>
-                            <groupId>com.puppycrawl.tools</groupId>
-                            <artifactId>checkstyle</artifactId>
-                            <version>8.18</version>
-                        </dependency>
-                    </dependencies>
+                    <version>3.1.0</version>
                 </plugin>
             </plugins>
         </pluginManagement>
@@ -174,7 +167,7 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>2.17</version>
+                <version>3.1.0</version>
                 <executions>
                     <execution>
                         <id>validate</id>
diff --git a/sun_checks_neemann.xml b/sun_checks_neemann.xml
index 54c9a51d7..2e4b54c59 100644
--- a/sun_checks_neemann.xml
+++ b/sun_checks_neemann.xml
@@ -71,14 +71,13 @@
         <property name="message" value="Line has trailing spaces."/>
     </module>
 
-    <module name="TreeWalker">
-
-        <module name="SuppressionCommentFilter">
-            <property name="offCommentFormat" value="CHECKSTYLE.OFF\: ([\w\|]+)"/>
-            <property name="onCommentFormat" value="CHECKSTYLE.ON\: ([\w\|]+)"/>
-            <property name="checkFormat" value="$1"/>
-        </module>
+    <module name="SuppressWithPlainTextCommentFilter">
+        <property name="offCommentFormat" value="CHECKSTYLE.OFF\: ([\w\|]+)"/>
+        <property name="onCommentFormat" value="CHECKSTYLE.ON\: ([\w\|]+)"/>
+        <property name="checkFormat" value="$1"/>
+    </module>
 
+    <module name="TreeWalker">
         <!-- Checks for Javadoc comments.                     -->
         <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_javadoc.html -->
         <module name="JavadocMethod">