diff --git a/man3/tzset.3 b/man3/tzset.3
index c1c98e17b..36d2fd725 100644
--- a/man3/tzset.3
+++ b/man3/tzset.3
@@ -170,14 +170,8 @@ from a file:
 :[filespec]
 .RE
 .sp
-If the file specification \fIfilespec\fP is omitted, the timezone
-information is read from the file
-.I localtime
-in the system timezone directory, which nowadays usually is
-.IR /usr/share/zoneinfo .
-This file is in
-.BR tzfile (5)
-format.
+If the file specification \fIfilespec\fP is omitted, or its value cannot
+be interpreted, then Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is used.
 If \fIfilespec\fP is given, it specifies another
 .BR tzfile (5)-format
 file to read the timezone information from.