diff --git a/Event/ByteStreamCnvSvc/src/ByteStreamCnvSvc.cxx b/Event/ByteStreamCnvSvc/src/ByteStreamCnvSvc.cxx
index b6b9feb7e0a1a8429dac21f53d8900d7dafe67a3..1717f26c348a6c395cb20f7369784cc37201de52 100644
--- a/Event/ByteStreamCnvSvc/src/ByteStreamCnvSvc.cxx
+++ b/Event/ByteStreamCnvSvc/src/ByteStreamCnvSvc.cxx
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 /*
-  Copyright (C) 2002-2017 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration
+  Copyright (C) 2002-2019 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration
 */
 
 #include "ByteStreamCnvSvc/ByteStreamCnvSvc.h"
 #include "ByteStreamCnvSvc/ByteStreamOutputSvc.h"
 #include "ByteStreamCnvSvcBase/FullEventAssembler.h"
+#include "ByteStreamCnvSvcBase/ByteStreamAddress.h"
 
 #include "StoreGate/StoreGate.h"
 #include "EventInfo/EventInfo.h"
@@ -20,8 +21,8 @@
 
 #include <algorithm>
 
-/// External definitions
-long ByteStream_StorageType=0x43;
+/// External definitions (TODO: remove this once all "extern" references are removed)
+long ByteStream_StorageType = ByteStreamAddress::storageType();
 
 /// Standard constructor
 ByteStreamCnvSvc::ByteStreamCnvSvc(const std::string& name, ISvcLocator* pSvcLocator)
diff --git a/Event/ByteStreamCnvSvcBase/ByteStreamCnvSvcBase/ByteStreamAddress.h b/Event/ByteStreamCnvSvcBase/ByteStreamCnvSvcBase/ByteStreamAddress.h
index df1391acce458859416239af92430ddb5a916ab3..a95bd7cf4aa08d7b781d0ea78ab8c2f4f82597f5 100755
--- a/Event/ByteStreamCnvSvcBase/ByteStreamCnvSvcBase/ByteStreamAddress.h
+++ b/Event/ByteStreamCnvSvcBase/ByteStreamCnvSvcBase/ByteStreamAddress.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-  Copyright (C) 2002-2017 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration
+  Copyright (C) 2002-2019 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration
 */
 
 #ifndef BYTESTREAMCNVSVCBASE_BYTESTREAMADDRESS_H
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ public:
    // @brief get event id
    const EventContext& getEventContext() const;
 
+   // @brief storage type to be used by all bytestream converters
+   static constexpr long storageType() { return 0x43; }
+
 private:
    // @brief it holds a vector of rob ids
    std::vector<uint32_t> m_robIDs;