I encountered this error sometime ago. I found that when I imported the file I received into Recorder 2002 v2.3.7.8 on my desktop running Windows XP Professional, the import worked although it reported one invalid item (a biotope occurrence). I also imported that file into Recorder 2002 v2.3.7.8 on my laptop running Windows XP Home. In that case I got the same error as you did – List index out of bounds – but when I changed the date in the biotope determination to the same date as the Sample, the file imported without reporting any invalid items.  I don’t know why the import would crash on my laptop but not on my desktop but I would hope that if you corrected the invalid items and re-exported the data that it would import without crashing.

Discussions around a subsequent occurrence of this problem made me wonder whether it was caused by a corruption in the exporting database. Has the database that was used to produce the export file been checked for corruptions recently? The easiest way to check for corruptions is to compact the database (Tools – Database Tools – Compact). If this fails you probably have a corruption which can sometimes be cleared by repairing the database (Tools – Database Tools – Repair). If this fails let me know as there are other techniques for clearing corruptions. 

Could you please let us know if this helps resolve the problem as I didn't receive the feedback I was hoping for last time.