diff --git a/gridded/da/tm5/observationoperator.py b/gridded/da/tm5/observationoperator.py
index 80c6b9e21f2acfe7b8162528988138072ca475fb..19f6b4417f809acac0475d86d3b502ff1d94454b 100755
--- a/gridded/da/tm5/observationoperator.py
+++ b/gridded/da/tm5/observationoperator.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ from string import join
 sys.path.append(os.getcwd())
 sys.path.append("../../")
 
+import da.tools.rc as rc
 from da.tools.general import create_dirs, to_datetime
 from da.baseclasses.observationoperator import ObservationOperator
 
@@ -196,8 +197,6 @@ class TM5ObservationOperator(ObservationOperator):
         """ 
         This method loads a TM5 rc-file with settings for this simulation 
         """
-        import da.tools.rc as rc
-
         self.rcfile = rc.RcFile(name)
         self.tm_settings = self.rcfile.values
         self.rc_filename = name
@@ -304,7 +303,6 @@ class TM5ObservationOperator(ObservationOperator):
         """ 
         Write the rc-file settings to a tm5.rc file in the rundir
         """
-        import da.tools.rc as rc
         rc.write(tm5rcfilename, self.tm_settings)
         logging.debug("Modified rc file for TM5 written (%s)" % tm5rcfilename)