--- a/Python/codecs.c	Wed Jan 18 21:23:13 2012 +0100
+++ b/Python/codecs.c	Wed Jan 18 22:30:21 2012 +0100
@@ -1067,15 +1067,6 @@
 
     mod = PyImport_ImportModuleNoBlock("encodings");
     if (mod == NULL) {
-        if (PyErr_ExceptionMatches(PyExc_ImportError)) {
-            /* Ignore ImportErrors... this is done so that
-               distributions can disable the encodings package. Note
-               that other errors are not masked, e.g. SystemErrors
-               raised to inform the user of an error in the Python
-               configuration are still reported back to the user. */
-            PyErr_Clear();
-            return 0;
-        }
         return -1;
     }
     Py_DECREF(mod);