diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 909fdf3..c431bba 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ plugins {
 
 java {
     group = 'eu.openaire.urls_controller'
-    version = '2.7.3'
+    version = '2.7.4-SNAPSHOT'
     sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
 }
 
@@ -112,9 +112,6 @@ dependencies {
     implementation 'org.apache.thrift:libthrift:0.17.0' // Newer versions (>=0.18.X) are not compatible with JAVA 8.
     implementation 'com.fasterxml.woodstox:woodstox-core:6.6.2'
 
-    // https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.json/json
-    implementation 'org.json:json:20240303' // This is used only in "ParquetFileUtils.createRemoteParquetDirectories()". TODO - Replace it with "gson".
-
     // https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.google.code.gson/gson
     implementation 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.11.0'
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/ParquetFileUtils.java b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/ParquetFileUtils.java
index dc63ae5..aa09410 100644
--- a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/ParquetFileUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/ParquetFileUtils.java
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 package eu.openaire.urls_controller.util;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
+import com.google.gson.Gson;
+import com.google.gson.JsonArray;
+import com.google.gson.JsonElement;
+import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
 import eu.openaire.urls_controller.configuration.DatabaseConnector;
 import eu.openaire.urls_controller.models.Error;
 import eu.openaire.urls_controller.models.*;
@@ -15,9 +19,6 @@ import org.apache.parquet.hadoop.ParquetWriter;
 import org.apache.parquet.hadoop.metadata.CompressionCodecName;
 import org.apache.parquet.hadoop.util.HadoopOutputFile;
 import org.apache.parquet.io.OutputFile;
-import org.json.JSONArray;
-import org.json.JSONException;
-import org.json.JSONObject;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
@@ -593,33 +594,30 @@ public class ParquetFileUtils {
             boolean foundPayloadsAggregatedDir = false;
             boolean foundPayloadsBulkImportDir = false;
 
+            final Gson gson = new Gson();
             try {   // Parse the jsonData
-                JSONObject jObj = new JSONObject(jsonResponse); // Construct a JSONObject from the retrieved jsonData.
-                JSONObject entityObject = jObj.getJSONObject("FileStatuses");
-                //logger.trace("EntityObject: " + entityObject.toString());	// DEBUG!
+                JsonObject jsonObject = gson.fromJson(jsonResponse, JsonObject.class);
+                JsonArray fileStatuses = jsonObject.get("FileStatuses").getAsJsonObject().get("FileStatus").getAsJsonArray();
 
-                JSONArray directoryStatuses = entityObject.getJSONArray("FileStatus");
-                //logger.trace("directoryStatuses: " + directoryStatuses.toString());	// DEBUG!
-
-                // In case no fileStatuses are found, the follow for-loop will not run.
-                for ( Object fileStatusObject : directoryStatuses ) {
-                    JSONObject fileStatusJsonObject = (JSONObject) fileStatusObject;
-                    //logger.trace("FileStatusJsonObject: " + fileStatusJsonObject.toString());	// DEBUG!
-
-                    String dirPath = fileStatusJsonObject.getString("pathSuffix");
-                    //logger.trace("DirPath: " + dirPath);	// DEBUG!
-
-                    if ( dirPath.equals("attempts") )
+                for ( JsonElement fileStatusElement : fileStatuses ) {  // In case no fileStatuses are found, the follow for-loop will not run and the "found*" variables will remain "false", thus triggering the creation process.
+                    JsonObject fileStatusObject = fileStatusElement.getAsJsonObject();
+                    String path = fileStatusObject.get("pathSuffix").getAsString();
+                    String type = fileStatusObject.get("type").getAsString();
+                    if ( !type.equals("DIRECTORY") ) {
+                        logger.warn("Unknown file found: " + path); // We
+                        continue;
+                    }
+                    if ( path.equals("attempts") )
                         foundAttemptsDir = true;
-                    else if ( dirPath.equals("payloads_aggregated") )
+                    else if ( path.equals("payloads_aggregated") )
                         foundPayloadsAggregatedDir = true;
-                    else if ( dirPath.equals("payloads_bulk_import") )
+                    else if ( path.equals("payloads_bulk_import") )
                         foundPayloadsBulkImportDir = true;
-                    else if ( ! dirPath.equals("test") )    // The "test" directory helps with testing the service, without interfering with the production directories.
-                        logger.warn("Unknown remote parquet HDFS-directory found: " + dirPath);
+                    else if ( ! path.equals("test") )    // The "test" directory helps with testing the service, without interfering with the production directories. This subdir will be found only when running in production.
+                        logger.warn("Unknown remote parquet HDFS-directory found: " + path);
                 }
-            } catch (JSONException je) {    // In case any of the above "json-keys" was not found.
-                logger.warn("JSON Exception was thrown while trying to retrieve the subdirectories \"attempts\" and \"payloads\": " + je.getMessage() + "\n\nJsonResponse: " + jsonResponse);
+            } catch (Exception e) {    // In case any of the above "json-keys" was not found.
+                logger.error("JSON Exception was thrown while trying to retrieve the \"attempts\" and \"payloads_*\" subdirectories: " + e.getMessage() + "\n\nJsonResponse: " + jsonResponse, e);
                 return false;
             }