diff --git a/app/scodoc/sco_utils.py b/app/scodoc/sco_utils.py
index f4130cb4..07aaacae 100644
--- a/app/scodoc/sco_utils.py
+++ b/app/scodoc/sco_utils.py
@@ -1138,10 +1138,11 @@ def send_docx(document, filename):
     )
 
 
-def get_request_args():
+def get_request_args() -> dict:
     """returns a dict with request (POST or GET) arguments
     converted to suit legacy Zope style (scodoc7) functions.
     """
+    vals = {}
     # copy to get a mutable object (necessary for TrivialFormulator and several methods)
     if request.method == "POST":
         # request.form is a werkzeug.datastructures.ImmutableMultiDict
@@ -1154,7 +1155,6 @@ def get_request_args():
             if k.endswith(":list"):
                 vals[k[:-5]] = request.form.getlist(k)
     elif request.method == "GET":
-        vals = {}
         for k in request.args:
             # current_app.logger.debug("%s\t%s" % (k, request.args.getlist(k)))
             if k.endswith(":list"):
diff --git a/sco_version.py b/sco_version.py
index 71a0b594..8fb3a6e8 100644
--- a/sco_version.py
+++ b/sco_version.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # -*- mode: python -*-
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
-SCOVERSION = "9.6.970"
+SCOVERSION = "9.6.971"
 
 SCONAME = "ScoDoc"