diff --git a/lib_com/bitstream.c b/lib_com/bitstream.c
index 7bf6b844053b366e6d48a81e3e7aa1880a0cd504..c3b7140cac61c2984bd6a5918c84a2c78da2fcbd 100644
--- a/lib_com/bitstream.c
+++ b/lib_com/bitstream.c
@@ -1084,12 +1084,7 @@ ivas_error check_ind_list_limits(
     if ( ( &hBstr->ind_list[hBstr->nb_ind_tot] - ivas_ind_list_zero ) >= *( hBstr->ivas_max_num_indices ) )
     {
 #ifdef DEBUGGING
-#ifdef DEBUG_IND_LIST_MEMORY
-        /* TODO: replace with the warning message below before the finalization of the IVAS codec */
-        assert( 0 && "The maximum number of indices has been exceeded! Increase the limits in get_ivas_max_num_indices() or get_max_num_indices_metadata()." );
-#else
         fprintf( stderr, "Warning: The maximum number of indices %d has been exceeded in frame %d! Increase the limits in get_ivas_max_num_indices() or get_max_num_indices_metadata().\n", *( hBstr->ivas_max_num_indices ), frame );
-#endif
 #endif
 
         /* reallocate the buffer of indices with increased limit */
@@ -1121,12 +1116,7 @@ ivas_error check_ind_list_limits(
             if ( hBstr->ind_list >= ivas_ind_list_last )
             {
 #ifdef DEBUGGING
-#ifdef DEBUG_IND_LIST_MEMORY
-                /* TODO: replace with the warning message below before the finalization of the IVAS codec */
-                assert( 0 && "The maximum number of indices has been exceeded! Increase the limits in get_ivas_max_num_indices() or get_max_num_indices_metadata()." );
-#else
                 fprintf( stderr, "Warning: The maximum number of indices %d has been exceeded in frame %d! Increase the limits in get_ivas_max_num_indices() or get_max_num_indices_metadata().\n", *( hBstr->ivas_max_num_indices ), frame );
-#endif
 #endif
 
                 /* no available empty slot -> need to re-allocate the buffer */
diff --git a/lib_com/options.h b/lib_com/options.h
index cd53058025258d67a04c8d58e70bfed58332537e..6d126861a2105cb30bb7278ff30c4080df908de4 100755
--- a/lib_com/options.h
+++ b/lib_com/options.h
@@ -129,7 +129,6 @@
 /*#define DEBUG_AGC_ENCODER_CMD_OPTION*/        /* Ability to force enable or disable AGC behaviour in DIRAC/SPAR via command line option */
 #define DEBUG_JBM_CMD_OPTION                    /* ability for telling the decoder the frontend fetch size and to not delay compensate for bad frames at the beginning */
 #define VARIABLE_SPEED_DECODING                 /* variable speed decoding employing the JBM functioniality; move to DEBUGGING after build for disabled is fixed */
-#define DEBUG_IND_LIST_MEMORY                   /* raise assert() when ind_list[] runs out of memory */
 
 /*Split Rendering Debug switches*/
 /*#define DBG_WAV_WRITER*/                      /* add debugging function dbgwrite_wav() */