A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISCARDING A PACKET DATA CONVERGENCE PROTOCOL (PDCP) SERVICE DATA UNIT (SDU) ARE DISCLOSED. A PDCP LAYER SETS A TIMER AND DISCARDS A PDCP SDU UPON EXPIRATION OF THE TIMER (1010). THE TIMER MAY BE SET UPON RECEIVING THE PDCP SDU FROM AN UPPER LAYER OR UPON SUBMITTING THE PDCP SDU TO A LOWER LAYER FOR TRANSMISSION. THE TIMER AND A RADIO LINK CONTROL (RLC) DISCARD TIMER MAY BE COORDINATED. ALTERNATIVELY, THE PDCP LAYER MAY DISCARD THE PDCP SDU BASED ON A NOTIFICATION FROM AN RLC LAYER OR BASED ON A PDCP STATUS REPORT.
