diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 142a4bd9..724ee5b5 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 Changes
 -------
 
-2.15.3 (2024-10-27)
+2.16.0 (2024-10-27)
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-* relax botocore dependency specification
+* bump botocore dependency specification
 
 2.15.2 (2024-10-09)
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
diff --git a/aiobotocore/__init__.py b/aiobotocore/__init__.py
index 4895c882..48aa744f 100644
--- a/aiobotocore/__init__.py
+++ b/aiobotocore/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = '2.15.3'
+__version__ = '2.16.0'
diff --git a/aiobotocore/handlers.py b/aiobotocore/handlers.py
index c060ab94..1c0b0df6 100644
--- a/aiobotocore/handlers.py
+++ b/aiobotocore/handlers.py
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
 from botocore.handlers import (
     ETree,
-    XMLParseError,
     _get_cross_region_presigned_url,
     _get_presigned_url_source_and_destination_regions,
+    _looks_like_special_case_error,
     logger,
 )
 
 
 async def check_for_200_error(response, **kwargs):
+    """This function has been deprecated, but is kept for backwards compatibility."""
     # From: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/API/RESTObjectCOPY.html
     # There are two opportunities for a copy request to return an error. One
     # can occur when Amazon S3 receives the copy request and the other can
@@ -28,7 +29,9 @@ async def check_for_200_error(response, **kwargs):
         # trying to retrieve the response.  See Endpoint._get_response().
         return
     http_response, parsed = response
-    if await _looks_like_special_case_error(http_response):
+    if _looks_like_special_case_error(
+        http_response.status_code, await http_response.content
+    ):
         logger.debug(
             "Error found for response with 200 status code, "
             "errors: %s, changing status code to "
@@ -38,24 +41,6 @@ async def check_for_200_error(response, **kwargs):
         http_response.status_code = 500
 
 
-async def _looks_like_special_case_error(http_response):
-    if http_response.status_code == 200:
-        try:
-            parser = ETree.XMLParser(
-                target=ETree.TreeBuilder(), encoding='utf-8'
-            )
-            parser.feed(await http_response.content)
-            root = parser.close()
-        except XMLParseError:
-            # In cases of network disruptions, we may end up with a partial
-            # streamed response from S3. We need to treat these cases as
-            # 500 Service Errors and try again.
-            return True
-        if root.tag == 'Error':
-            return True
-    return False
-
-
 async def inject_presigned_url_ec2(params, request_signer, model, **kwargs):
     # The customer can still provide this, so we should pass if they do.
     if 'PresignedUrl' in params['body']:
diff --git a/aiobotocore/hooks.py b/aiobotocore/hooks.py
index eaae300e..62fea11a 100644
--- a/aiobotocore/hooks.py
+++ b/aiobotocore/hooks.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-from botocore.handlers import check_for_200_error as boto_check_for_200_error
 from botocore.handlers import (
     inject_presigned_url_ec2 as boto_inject_presigned_url_ec2,
 )
@@ -21,7 +20,6 @@
 
 from ._helpers import resolve_awaitable
 from .handlers import (
-    check_for_200_error,
     inject_presigned_url_ec2,
     inject_presigned_url_rds,
     parse_get_bucket_location,
@@ -39,7 +37,6 @@
     boto_add_generate_presigned_post: add_generate_presigned_post,
     boto_add_generate_db_auth_token: add_generate_db_auth_token,
     boto_parse_get_bucket_location: parse_get_bucket_location,
-    boto_check_for_200_error: check_for_200_error,
 }
 
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 3b221929..17ccd147 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ classifiers = [
 dynamic = ["version", "readme"]
 
 dependencies = [
-    "botocore >=1.35.16, <1.35.45", # NOTE: When updating, always keep `project.optional-dependencies` aligned
+    "botocore >=1.35.45, <1.35.46", # NOTE: When updating, always keep `project.optional-dependencies` aligned
     "aiohttp >=3.9.2, <4.0.0",
     "wrapt >=1.10.10, <2.0.0",
     "aioitertools >=0.5.1, <1.0.0",
@@ -38,10 +38,10 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 awscli = [
-    "awscli >=1.34.16, <1.35.11",
+    "awscli >=1.35.11, <1.35.12",
 ]
 boto3 = [
-    "boto3 >=1.35.16, <1.35.45",
+    "boto3 >=1.35.45, <1.35.46",
 ]
 
 [project.urls]
diff --git a/tests/test_patches.py b/tests/test_patches.py
index 1652be73..1fc1c40e 100644
--- a/tests/test_patches.py
+++ b/tests/test_patches.py
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@
 )
 from botocore.eventstream import EventStream
 from botocore.handlers import (
-    _looks_like_special_case_error,
     check_for_200_error,
     inject_presigned_url_ec2,
     inject_presigned_url_rds,
@@ -624,9 +623,8 @@
     inject_presigned_url_rds: {'b5d45b339686346e81b255d4e8c36e76d3fe6a78'},
     inject_presigned_url_ec2: {'48e09a5e4e95577e716be30f2d2706949261a07f'},
     parse_get_bucket_location: {'64ffbf5c6aa6ebd083f49371000fa046d0de1fc6'},
-    check_for_200_error: {'ded7f3aaef7b1a5d047c4dac86692ab55cbd7a13'},
-    _looks_like_special_case_error: {
-        '86946722d10a72b593483fca0abf30100c609178'
+    check_for_200_error: {
+        '3a00f0bea409528f8457d6569aecf05998094386',
     },
     # httpsession.py
     URLLib3Session: {