91 STAT. 1538
PUBLIC LAW 95-216—DEC. 20, 1977 INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS W I T H RESPECT TO SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS
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S E C 317. (a) Title II of the Social Security Act is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new section: "INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
"Purpose of Agreement 42 USC 433.
"SEC. 233. (a) The President is authorized (subject to the succeeding provisions of this section) to enter into agreements establishing totalization arrangements between the social security system established by this title and the social security system of any foreign country, for the purposes of establishing entitlement to and the amount of oldage, survivors, disability, or derivative benefits based on a combination of an individual's periods of coverage under the social security system established by this title and the social security system of such foreign country. "Definitions
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"(b) For the purposes of this section— "(1) the term 'social security system' means, with respect to a foreign country, a social insurance or pension system which is of general application in the country and under which periodic benefits, or the actuarial equivalent thereof, are paid on account of old age, death, or disability; and "(2) the term 'period of coverage' means a period of payment of contributions or a period of earnings based on wages for employment or on self-employment income, or any similar period recognized as equivalent thereto under this title or under the social security system of a country which is a party to an agreement entered into under this section. "Crediting Periods of Coverage; Conditions of Payment of Benefits
Post, pp. 1550, 1552.
"(c)(1) Any agreement establishing a totalization arrangement pursuant to this section shall provide—• "(A) that in the case of an individual who has at least 6 quarters of coverage as defined in section 213 of this Act and periods of coverage under the social security system of a foreign country which is a party to such agreement, periods of coverage of such individual under such social security system of such foreign country may be combined with periods of coverage under this title and otherwise considered for the purposes of establishing entitlement to and the amount of old-age, survivors, and disability insurance benefits under this title; " (B)(i) that employment or self-employment, or any service which is recognized as equivalent to employment or self-employment under this title or the social security system of a foreign country which is a party to such agreement, shall, on or after the effective date of such agreement, result in a period of coverage under the system established under this title or under the system established under the laws of such foreign country, but not under both, and (ii) the methods and conditions for determining under which system employment, self-employment, or other service shall result in a period of coverage; and
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