diff --git a/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/book.sgml b/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/book.sgml
index b79195ca8e..1d9c9a5970 100644
--- a/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/book.sgml
+++ b/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/book.sgml
@@ -2643,6 +2643,22 @@ PATCHFILES=     patch1:test</programlisting>
 
         <para>Note that only a single address without comment part is
           allowed as a <makevar>MAINTAINER</makevar> value.</para>
+
+        <para>If the maintainer of a port does not respond to an update
+          request from a user after two weeks (excluding major public
+          holidays), then that is considered a maintainer timeout, and the
+          update may be made without explicit maintainer approval.  If the
+          maintainer does not respond within three months, then that
+          maintainer is considered absent without leave, and can be
+          replaced as the maintainer of the particular port in question.
+          Exceptions to this are anything maintained by the &a.portmgr;, or
+          the &a.security-officer;.  No unauthorized commits may ever be
+          made to ports maintained by those groups.</para>
+
+        <para>The &a.portmgr; reserves the right to revoke or override
+          anyone's maintainership for any reason, and the &a.security-officer;
+          reserves the right to revoke or override maintainership for security
+          reasons.</para>
       </sect1>
 
       <sect1 id="makefile-comment">