diff --git a/common/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/common/utilities/IExitHandler.java b/common/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/common/utilities/IExitHandler.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..582d3d399485d5187398d1d7aea3fd3beacd041c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/common/utilities/IExitHandler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2007 ETH Zuerich, CISD
+ *
+ * Licensed 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 ch.systemsx.cisd.common.utilities;
+
+/**
+ *  Interface which capsulates the behaviour of a system exit. 
+ *
+ * @author Franz-Josef Elmer
+ */
+public interface IExitHandler
+{
+    public void exit(int exitCode);
+}
diff --git a/common/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/common/utilities/SystemExit.java b/common/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/common/utilities/SystemExit.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..294459453a2b83c5b395464eb1eb0d987521f581
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/common/utilities/SystemExit.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2007 ETH Zuerich, CISD
+ *
+ * Licensed 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 ch.systemsx.cisd.common.utilities;
+
+/**
+ * Exit handler based on <code>System.exit()</code>.
+ *
+ * @author Franz-Josef Elmer
+ */
+public class SystemExit implements IExitHandler
+{
+    /** The one and only one instance. */
+    public static final IExitHandler SYSTEM_EXIT = new SystemExit();
+    
+    private SystemExit()
+    {
+    }
+
+    public void exit(int exitCode)
+    {
+        System.exit(exitCode);
+    }
+
+}