Mariana Islands except in the manner and to the extent made applicable to them by the Congress by law after termination of the Trusteeship Agreement:

"(a) except as otherwise provided in Section 506, the immigration and naturalization laws of the United States;

"(b) except as otherwise provided in Subsection (b) of Section 502, the coastwise laws of the United States and any prohibition in the laws of the United States against foreign vessels landing fish or unfinished fish products in the United States; and

"(c) the minimum wage provisions of Section 6, Act of June 25, 1938, 52 Stat. 1062, as amended. "SECTION 504. The President will appoint a Commission on Federal Laws to survey the laws of the United States and to make recommendations to the United States Congress as to which laws of the United States not applicable to the Northern Mariana Islands should be made applicable and to what extent and in what manner, and which applicable laws should be made inapplicable and to what extent and in what manner. The Commission will consist of seven persons (at least four of whom will be citizens of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands who are and have been for at least five years domiciled continuously in the Northern Mariana Islands at the time of their appointments) who will be representative of the federal, local, private and public interests in the applicability of laws of the United States to the Northern Mariana Islands. The Commission will make its final report and recommendations to the Congress within one year after the termination of the Trusteeship Agreement, and before that time will make such interim reports and recommendations to the Congress as it considers appropriate to facilitate the transition of the Northern Mariana Islands to its new political status. In formulating its recommendations the Commission will take into consideration the potential effect of each law on local conditions within the Northern Mariana Islands, the policies embodied in the law and the provisions and purposes of this Covenant. The United States will bear the cost of the work of the Commission.

"SECTION 505. The laws of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, of the Mariana Islands District and its local municipalities, and all other Executive and District orders of a local nature applicable to the Northern Mariana Islands on the effective date of this Section and not inconsistent with this Covenant or with those provisions of the Constitution, treaties or laws of the United States applicable to the Northern Mariana Islands will remain in force and effect until and unless altered by the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands.

"SECTION 506. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection 503(a), upon the effective date of this Section the Northern Mariana Islands will be deemed to be a part of the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended for the following purposes only, and the said Act will apply to the Northern Mariana Islands to the extent indicated in each of the following Subsections of this Section.

"(b) With respect to children born abroad to United States citizen or non-citizen national parents permanently residing in the Northern Mariana Islands the provisions of Sections 301 and 308 of the said Act will apply.

"(c) With respect to aliens who are 'immediate relatives' (as defined in Subsection 201(b) of the said Act) of United States citizens who are permanently residing in the Northern Mariana Islands all the provisions of the said Act will apply, commencing when a claim is made to entitlement to 'immediate relative' status. A person who is certified by the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands both to have been a lawful permanent resident of the Northern Mariana Islands and to have had the 'immediate relative' relationship denoted herein on the effective date of this Section will be presumed to have been admitted to the United States for lawful permanent residence as of that date without the requirement of any of the usual proce

dures set forth in the said Act. For the purpose of the requirements of judicial naturalization, the Northern Mariana Islands will be deemed to constitute a State as defined in Subsection 101(a) paragraph (36) of the said Act. The Courts of record of the Northern Mariana Islands and the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands will be included among the courts specified in Subsection 310(a) of the said Act and will have jurisdiction to naturalize persons who become eligible under this Section and who reside within their respective jurisdictions.

"(d) With respect to persons who will become citi zens or nationals of the United States under Article III of this Covenant or under this Section the loss of nationality provisions of the said Act will apply.

"ARTICLE VI

"REVENUE AND TAXATION

"SECTION 601. (a) The income tax laws in force in the United States will come into force in the Northern Mariana Islands as a local territorial income tax on the first day of January following the effective date of this Section, in the same manner as those laws are in force in Guam.

"(b) Any individual who is a citizen or a resident of the United States, of Guam, or of the Northern Mari ana Islands (including a national of the United States who is not a citizen), will file only one income tax return with respect to his income, in a manner similar to the provisions of Section 935 of Title 26, United States Code.

"(c) References in the Internal Revenue Code to Guam will be deemed also to refer to the Northern Mariana Islands, where not otherwise distinctly expressed or manifestly incompatible with the intent thereof or of this Covenant.

"SECTION 602. The Government of the Northern Mariana Islands may by local law impose such taxes, in addition to those imposed under Section 601, as it deems appropriate and provide for the rebate of any taxes received by it, except that the power of the Gov. ernment of the Northern Mariana Islands to rebate collections of the local territorial income tax received by it will be limited to taxes on income derived from sources within the Northern Mariana Islands.

"SECTION 603. (a) The Northern Mariana Islands will not be included within the customs territory of the United States.

"(b) The Government of the Northern Mariana Is lands may, in a manner consistent with the international obligations of the United States, levy duties on goods imported into its territory from any area outside the customs territory of the United States and impose duties on exports from its territory.

"(c) Imports from the Northern Mariana Islands into the customs territory of the United States will be subject to the same treatment as imports from Guam into the customs territory of the United States.

"(d) The Government of the United States will seek to obtain from foreign countries favorable treatment for exports from the Northern Mariana Islands and will encourage other countries to consider the Northern Mariana Islands a developing territory.

"SECTION 604. (a) The Government of the United States may levy excise taxes on goods manufactured, sold or used or services rendered in the Northern Mar iana Islands in the same manner and to the same extent as such taxes are applicable within Guam.

"(b) The Government of the Northern Mariana Islands will have the authority to impose excise taxes upon goods manufactured, sold or used or services rendered within its territory or upon goods imported into its territory, provided that such excise taxes imposed on goods imported into its territory will be consistent with the international obligations of the United

States.

"SECTION 605. Nothing in this Article will be deemed to authorize the Government of the Northern Mari

ana Islands to impose any customs duties on the property of the United States or on the personal property of military or civilian personnel of the United States Government or their dependents entering or leaving the Northern Mariana Islands pursuant to their contract of employment or orders assigning them to or from the Northern Mariana Islands or to impose any taxes on the property, activities or instrumentalities of the United States which one of the several States could not impose; nor will any provision of this Article be deemed to affect the operation of the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act of 1940, as amended, which will be applicable to the Northern Mariana Islands as it is applicable to Guam.

"SECTION 606. (a) Not later than at the time this Covenant is approved, that portion of the Trust Territory Social Security Retirement Fund attributable to the Northern Mariana Islands will be transferred to the Treasury of the United States, to be held in trust as a separate fund to be known as the 'Northern Mariana Islands Social Security Retirement Fund'. This fund will be administered by the United States in accordance with the social security laws of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in effect at the time of such transfer, which may be modified by the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands only in a manner which does not create any additional differences between the social security laws of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and the laws described in Subsection (b). The United States will supplement such fund if necessary to assure that persons receive benefits therefrom comparable to those they would have received from the Trust Territory Social Security Retirement Fund under the laws applicable thereto on the day preceding the establishment of the Northern Mariana Islands Social Security Retirement Fund, so long as the rate of contributions thereto also remains comparable.

"(b) Those laws of the United States which impose excise and self-employment taxes to support or which provide benefits from the United States Social Security System will upon termination of the Trusteeship Agreement or such earlier date as may be agreed to by the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Government of the United States become applicable to the Northern Mariana Islands as they apply to Guam.

"(c) At such time as the laws described in Subsection (b) become applicable to the Northern Mariana Islands:

"(1) the Northern Mariana Islands Social Security Retirement Fund will be transferred into the appropriate Federal Social Security Trust Funds;

"(2) prior contributions by or on behalf of persons domiciled in the Northern Mariana Islands to the Trust Territory Social Security Retirement Fund or the Northern Mariana Islands Social Security Retirement Fund will be considered to have been made to the appropriate Federal Social Security Trust Funds for the purpose of determining eligibility of those persons in the Northern Mariana Islands for benefits under those laws; and

"(3) persons domiciled in the Northern Mariana Islands who are eligible for or entitled to social security benefits under the laws of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands or of the Northern Mariana Islands will not lose their entitlement and will be eligible for or entitled to benefits under the laws described in Subsection (b).

"SECTION 607. (a) All bonds or other obligations issued by the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands or by its authority will be exempt, as to principal and interest, from taxation by the United States, or by any State, territory or possession of the United States, or any political subdivision of any of them.

"(b) During the initial seven year period of financial assistance provided for in Section 702, and during such subsequent periods of financial assistance as may be agreed, the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands will authorize no public indebtedness (other

than bonds or other obligations of the Government payable solely from revenues derived from any public improvement or undertaking) in excess of ten percentum of the aggregate assessed valuation of the property within the Northern Mariana Islands.

"ARTICLE VII

"UNITED STATES FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

"SECTION 701. The Government of the United States will assist the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands in its efforts to achieve a progressively higher standard of living for its people as part of the American economic community and to develop the economic resources needed to meet the financial responsibilities of local self-government. To this end, the United States will provide direct multi-year financial support to the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands for local government operations, for capital improvement programs and for economic development. The initial period of such support will be seven years, as provided in Section 702.

"SECTION 702. Approval of this Covenant by the United States will constitute a commitment and pledge of the full faith and credit of the United States for the payment, as well as an authorization for the appropriation, of the following guaranteed annual levels of direct grant assistance to the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands for each of the seven fiscal years following the effective date of this Section:

"(a) $8.25 million for budgetary support for government operations, of which $250,000 each year will be reserved for a special education training fund connected with the change in the political status of the Northern Mariana Islands;

"(b) $4 million for capital improvement projects, of which $500,000 each year will be reserved for such projects on the Island of Tinian and $500,000 each year will be reserved for such projects on the Island of Rota; and

"(c) $1.75 million for an economic development loan fund, of which $500,000 each year will be reserved for small loans to farmers and fishermen and to agricultural and marine cooperatives, and of which $250,000 each year will be reserved for a special program of low interest housing loans for low income families.

"SECTION 703. (a) The United States will make available to the Northern Mariana Islands the full range of federal programs and services available to the territories of the United States. Funds provided under Section 702 will be considered to be local revenues of the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands when used as the local share required to obtain federal programs and services.

"(b) There will be paid into the Treasury of the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands, to be expended to the benefit of the people thereof as that Government may by law prescribe, the proceeds of all customs duties and federal income taxes derived from the Northern Mariana Islands, the proceeds of all taxes collected under the internal revenue laws of the United States on articles produced in the Northern Mariana Islands and transported to the United States, its territorites or possessions, or consumed in the Northern Mariana Islands, the proceeds of any other taxes which may be levied by the Congress on the inhabitants of the Northern Mariana Islands, and all quarantine, passport, immigration and naturalization fees collected in the Northern Mariana Islands, except that nothing in this Section shall be construed to apply to any tax imposed by Chapters 2 or 21 of Title 26, United States Code.

"SECTION 704. (a) Funds provided under Section 702 not obligated or expended by the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands during any fiscal year will remain available for obligation or expenditure by that

Northern Mariana Islands, the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands, in view of the importance of the ownership of land for the culture and traditions of the people of the Northern Mariana Islands, and in order to protect them against exploitation and to promote their economic advancement and self-sufficiency:

"(a) will until twenty-five years after the termination of the Trusteeship Agreement, and may thereafter, regulate the alienation of permanent and longterm interests in real property so as to restrict the acquisition of such interests to persons of Northern Mariana Islands descent; and

"(b) may regulate the extent to which a person may own or hold land which is now public land. "SECTION 806. (a) The United States will continue to recognize and respect the scarcity and special importance of land in the Northern Mariana Islands. If the United States must acquire any interest in real property not transferred to it under this Covenant, it will follow the policy of seeking to acquire only the minimum area necessary to accomplish the public purpose for which the real property is required, of seeking only the minimum interest in real property necessary to support such public purpose, acquiring title only if the public purpose cannot be accomplished if a lesser interest is obtained, and of seeking first to satisfy its requirement by acquiring an interest in public rather than private real property.

"(b) The United States may, upon prior written notice to the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands, acquire for public purposes in accordance with federal laws and procedures any interest in real property in the Northern Mariana Islands by purchase, lease, exchange, gift or otherwise under such terms and conditions as may be negotiated by the parties. The United States will in all cases attempt to acquire any interest in real property for public purposes by voluntary means under this Subsection before exercising the power of eminent domain. No interest in real property will be acquired unless duly authorized by the Congress of the United States and appropriations are available therefor.

"(c) In the event it is not possible for the United States to obtain an interest in real property for public purposes by voluntary means, it may exercise within the Commonwealth the power of eminent domain to the same extent and in the same manner as it has and can exercise the power of eminent domain in a State of the Union. The power of eminent domain will be exercised within the Commonwealth only to the extent necessary and in compliance with applicable United States laws, and with full recognition of the due process required by the United States Constitution.

"ARTICLE IX

"NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS REPRESENTATIVE AND CONSULTATION

"SECTION 901. The Constitution or laws of the Northern Mariana Islands may provide for the appointment or election of a Resident Representative to the United States, whose term of office will be two years, unless otherwise determined by local law, and who will be entitled to receive official recognition as such Representative by all of the departments and agencies of the Government of the United States upon presentation through the Department of State of a certificate of selection from the Governor. The Representative must be a citizen and resident of the Northern Mariana Islands, at least twenty-five years of age, and, after termination of the Trusteeship Agreement, a citizen of the United States.

"SECTION 902. The Government of the United States and the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands will consult regularly on all matters affecting the relationship between them. At the request of either Government, and not less frequently than every ten years, the President of the United States and the Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands will designate special representatives to meet and to consider in good faith

such issues affecting the relationship between the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States as may be designated by either Government and to make a report and recommendations with respect thereto. Special representatives will be appointed in any event to consider and to make recommendations regarding future multi-year financial assistance to the Northern Mariana Islands pursuant to Section 701, to meet at least one year prior to the expiration of every period of such financial assistance.

"SECTION 903. Nothing herein shall prevent the presentation of cases or controversies arising under this Covenant to courts established by the Constitution or laws of the United States. It is intended that any such cases or controversies will be justifiable in such courts and that the undertakings by the Government of the United States and by the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands provided for in this Covenant will be enforceable in such courts.

"SECTION 904. (a) The Government of the United States will give sympathetic consideration to the views of the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands on international matters directly affecting the Northern Mariana Islands and will provide opportunities for the effective presentation of such views to no less extent than such opportunities are provided to any other territory or possession under comparable circumstances.

"(b) The United States will assist and facilitate the establishment by the Northern Mariana Islands of offices in the United States and abroad to promote local tourism and other economic or cultural interests of the Northern Mariana Islands.

"(c) On its request the Northern Mariana Islands may participate in regional and other international organizations concerned with social, economic, educational, scientific, technical and cultural matters when similar participation is authorized for any other territory or possession of the United States under comparable circumstances.

"ARTICLE X

“APPROVAL, EFFECTIVE DATES, AND DEFINITIONS

"SECTION 1001. (a) This Covenant will be submitted to the Mariana Islands District Legislature for its approval. After its approval by the Mariana Islands District Legislature, this Covenant will be submitted to the people of the Northern Mariana Islands for approval in a plebiscite to be called by the United States, Only persons who are domiciled exclusively in the Northern Mariana Islands and who meet such other qualifications, including timely registration, as are promulgated by the United States as administering authority will be eligible to vote in the plebiscite. Approval must be by a majority of at least 55% of the valid votes cast in the plebiscite. The results of the plebiscite will be certified to the President of the United States.

"(b) This Covenant will be approved by the United States in accordance with its constitutional processes and will thereupon become law.

"SECTION 1002. The President of the United States will issue a proclamation announcing the termination of the Trusteeship Agreement, or the date on which the Trusteeship Agreement will terminate, and the establishment of the Commonwealth in accordance with this Covenant. Any determination by the President that the Trusteeship Agreement has been terminated or will be terminated on a day certain will be final and will not be subject to review by any authority, judicial or otherwise, of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands or the United States.

"SECTION 1003. The provisions of this Covenant will become effective as follows, unless otherwise specifically provided: