diff --git a/django/http/__init__.py b/django/http/__init__.py
index 2e4f371fb1c..714d552938d 100644
--- a/django/http/__init__.py
+++ b/django/http/__init__.py
@@ -326,9 +326,6 @@ class QueryDict(MultiValueDict):
     def __init__(self, query_string, mutable=False, encoding=None):
         MultiValueDict.__init__(self)
         if not encoding:
-            # *Important*: do not import settings any earlier because of note
-            # in core.handlers.modpython.
-            from django.conf import settings
             encoding = settings.DEFAULT_CHARSET
         self.encoding = encoding
         for key, value in parse_qsl((query_string or ''), True): # keep_blank_values=True
@@ -338,9 +335,6 @@ class QueryDict(MultiValueDict):
 
     def _get_encoding(self):
         if self._encoding is None:
-            # *Important*: do not import settings at the module level because
-            # of the note in core.handlers.modpython.
-            from django.conf import settings
             self._encoding = settings.DEFAULT_CHARSET
         return self._encoding