diff --git a/scrapy/trunk/scrapy/conf/__init__.py b/scrapy/trunk/scrapy/conf/__init__.py
index 88c0a0436..7239eb693 100644
--- a/scrapy/trunk/scrapy/conf/__init__.py
+++ b/scrapy/trunk/scrapy/conf/__init__.py
@@ -20,13 +20,7 @@ class Settings(object):
         self.core = self._import('scrapy.conf.core_settings')
 
     def _import(self, modulepath):
-        try:
-            return __import__(modulepath, {}, {}, [''])
-        except ImportError:
-            import sys
-            err = "Error: Can't find %s module in your python path\n"
-            sys.stderr.write(err % modulepath)
-            sys.exit(1)
+        return __import__(modulepath, {}, {}, [''])
 
     def __getitem__(self, opt_name):
         if opt_name in self.overrides: