edit rephrase question:

is it proper to add
arg_separator.output = "&"

or remove the ; from the current line?

; arg_separator.output = "&"

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; Data Handling ;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;

; List of separator(s) used by PHP to parse input URLs into variables.
; Default is "&".
; NOTE: Every character in this directive is considered as separator!
;arg_separator.input = ";&"