The definition of United States “territory” in Article 1.1 of the original U.S.-German social security agreement is identical to the definition of “United States” in title II of the Act.  That definition includes the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa, but not the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI).  However, the Covenant establishing the Commonwealth in political union with the United States provides that the U.S. Social Security program applies in the NMI as it applies in Guam.  Because all U.S. social security agreements apply to Guam, the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) began applying the agreements to the NMI as of January 1, 1987, when the U.S. Social Security program was first extended there.  Article 1.1 makes clear that the definition of United States “territory” includes the NMI. 

The FRG “territory” is defined as the area in which the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) of the FRG is in force.  The Basic Law is in the nature of a constitution.  Since October 3, 1990, with the reunification of Germany, this area has included the 5 “Länder”; i.e., States, that formerly composed the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the 10 previously existing Länder of the FRG, and Berlin.  Article 22 of the original Agreement provided that it would apply to what was then West Berlin unless the FRG Government declared otherwise within 3 months of the entry into force of the Agreement.  It did not declare otherwise.  The annotation for article 22 of the Agreement explains further.