diff --git a/Python/codecs.c b/Python/codecs.c
index 1ba6009..3aa1f38 100644
--- a/Python/codecs.c
+++ b/Python/codecs.c
@@ -319,23 +319,6 @@
     PyObject *args = NULL, *result = NULL;
     PyObject *v;
 
-    /* XXX short-cut a few common file system 
-       encodings for now, as otherwise the import
-       code can't load the codec registry. */
-    if (strcmp(encoding, "utf-8") == 0 && PyUnicode_Check(object)) {
-	return PyUnicode_EncodeUTF8(PyUnicode_AS_UNICODE(object),
-				    PyUnicode_GET_SIZE(object),
-				    errors);
-    }
-#if defined(MS_WINDOWS) && defined(HAVE_USABLE_WCHAR_T)
-    if (strcmp(encoding, "mbcs") == 0 && PyUnicode_Check(object)) {
-	return PyUnicode_EncodeMBCS(PyUnicode_AS_UNICODE(object),
-				    PyUnicode_GET_SIZE(object),
-				    errors);
-    }
-#endif
-
-
     encoder = PyCodec_Encoder(encoding);
     if (encoder == NULL)
 	goto onError;
diff --git a/Python/import.c b/Python/import.c
index 0e4e50c..4786f1b 100644
--- a/Python/import.c
+++ b/Python/import.c
@@ -2305,10 +2305,10 @@
 			if (!Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding) {
 				item8 = PyUnicode_EncodeASCII(PyUnicode_AsUnicode(item),
 							      PyUnicode_GetSize(item),
-							      "strict");
+							      NULL);
 			} else {
-				item8 = PyUnicode_AsEncodedObject(item, 
-				Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding, "strict");
+				item8 = PyUnicode_AsEncodedString(item, 
+				Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding, NULL);
 			}
 			if (!item8) {
 				PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "Cannot encode path item");