diff --git a/scripts/apply-format-changes.sh b/scripts/apply-format-changes.sh
index c28640f3fd12a445ca180133d267e30ac231774c..76de85a7f2491ed576806da8bd9a6182a973ba27 100755
--- a/scripts/apply-format-changes.sh
+++ b/scripts/apply-format-changes.sh
@@ -1,13 +1,24 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+if [[ -z $GIT_CLANG_FORMAT_BIN || -z $CLANG_FORMAT_BIN ]]; then
+  echo "Error: GIT_CLANG_FORMAT_BIN or CLANG_FORMAT_BIN not defined"
+  echo "=> Please follow the instruction at https://redmine.cbm.gsi.de/projects/cbmroot/wiki/Clang-format"
+  exit -1
+fi
+
+# Check clang-format version
+VERSION=$($CLANG_FORMAT_BIN --version)
+if [[ "$VERSION" != *"11.0.0"* ]]; then
+  echo "Error: CLANG_FORMAT_BIN version not matching the standard cbmroot one (used in the MR test chain)"
+  echo "11.0.0 vs " $VERSION
+  echo "=> Please follow the instruction at https://redmine.cbm.gsi.de/projects/cbmroot/wiki/Clang-format"
+  exit -1
+fi
+
 FAIRROOT_FORMAT_BASE=upstream/master
 BASE_COMMIT=${FAIRROOT_FORMAT_BASE:-HEAD}
 CHANGED_FILES=$(git diff --name-only $BASE_COMMIT | grep -E '.*\.(h|hpp|c|C|cpp|cxx|tpl)$' | grep -viE '.*LinkDef.h$')
 
-if [ -z $GIT_CLANG_FORMAT_BIN ]; then
-  echo "Warning:"
-  echo "GIT_CLANG_FORMAT_BIN not defined, trying to use git-clang-format-10 if present"
-  echo ""
-  GIT_CLANG_FORMAT_BIN=git-clang-format-10
-fi
 
 $GIT_CLANG_FORMAT_BIN --verbose --commit $BASE_COMMIT $CHANGED_FILES --extensions h,hpp,c,C,cpp,cxx,tpl
 git add $CHANGED_FILES
diff --git a/scripts/check-format-changes.sh b/scripts/check-format-changes.sh
index f75d9d6642fdaf01495c6f88d4918571848f981e..046e2742e960635f94052bc274bf2d76260f2e96 100755
--- a/scripts/check-format-changes.sh
+++ b/scripts/check-format-changes.sh
@@ -1,13 +1,23 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+if [[ -z $GIT_CLANG_FORMAT_BIN || -z $CLANG_FORMAT_BIN ]]; then
+  echo "Error: GIT_CLANG_FORMAT_BIN or CLANG_FORMAT_BIN not defined"
+  echo "=> Please follow the instruction at https://redmine.cbm.gsi.de/projects/cbmroot/wiki/Clang-format"
+  exit -1
+fi
+
+# Check clang-format version
+VERSION=$($CLANG_FORMAT_BIN --version)
+if [[ "$VERSION" != *"11.0.0"* ]]; then
+  echo "Error: CLANG_FORMAT_BIN version not matching the standard cbmroot one (used in the MR test chain)"
+  echo "clang-format version 11.0.0 vs " $VERSION
+  echo "=> Please follow the instruction at https://redmine.cbm.gsi.de/projects/cbmroot/wiki/Clang-format"
+  exit -1
+fi
+
 git fetch upstream
 FAIRROOT_FORMAT_BASE=upstream/master
 BASE_COMMIT=${FAIRROOT_FORMAT_BASE:-HEAD}
 CHANGED_FILES=$(git diff --name-only $BASE_COMMIT | grep -E '.*\.(h|hpp|c|C|cpp|cxx|tpl)$' | grep -viE '.*LinkDef.h$')
 
-if [ -z $GIT_CLANG_FORMAT_BIN ]; then
-  echo "Warning:"
-  echo "GIT_CLANG_FORMAT_BIN not defined, trying to use git-clang-format-10 if present"
-  echo ""
-  GIT_CLANG_FORMAT_BIN=git-clang-format-10
-fi
-
 $GIT_CLANG_FORMAT_BIN --commit $BASE_COMMIT --diff $CHANGED_FILES --extensions h,hpp,c,C,cpp,cxx,tpl