S.I. No. 243/1993 - Social Welfare (Agreement With The United States of America on Social Security) Order, 1993.

1. Where administrative assistance is requested under Article 9 of the Agreement, expenses other than regular personnel and operating costs of the agency providing the assistance shall be reimbursed, except as may be agreed to by the competent Authorities or agencies of the Contracting States.

2. Upon request, the agency of either Contracting State shall furnish without cost to the agency of the other Contracting State any medical information and documentation in its possession relevant to the disability of the claimant or beneficiary.

3. The Agency of one Contracting State shall reimburse amounts owed under paragraph 1 of this Article upon presentation of a statement of expenses by the agency of the other Contracting State.

Article 8

This Administrative Arrangement shall enter into force on the date of entry into force of the Agreement and shall have the same period of validity.

DONE in duplicate at Washington on April 14, 1992.

FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED

STATES OF AMERICA

Louis N. Sullivan, M.D.

FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND

Charlie McCreevey.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

This Order gives effect to the Bilateral Agreement on Social Security made between Ireland and the United States of America which comes into effect from 1 September 1993. The Order provides that the Social Welfare Acts and relevant regulations will be modified to take account of the provisions of the Agreement.

The primary purpose of the Agreement is to allow social insurance contributions paid in Ireland to assist a person to qualify for certain benefits in the United States of America and to allow social insurance contributions paid in the United States of America to count towards satisfying the contribution conditions for certain Irish benefits. In the case of Ireland the agreement covers Old Age (Contributory) Pension, Retirement Pension, Invalidity Pension, Widow's and Orphan's (Contributory) Pensions and Death Grant.

The Agreement also deals with the liability, for Irish social insurance contributions (PRSI), of "detached" workers who are seconded to work in the United States of America for temporary periods of up to 5 years by an employer who has his business in Ireland. Such workers will continue to be attached to the Irish social insurance system for the period of such temporary absences.

4. The application of this Agreement shall not result in any reduction in the amount of a benefit to which entitlement was established prior to its entry into force.

Article 20

5. For the purposes of determining the eligibility of a person for a benefit under paragraph 1 of this Article, each quarter of coverage completed by the person under United States laws in any contribution year shall be regarded as being the equivalent of thirteen contribution weeks of coverage. The total number of contribution weeks of coverage in any one contribution year shall not exceed fifty-two.

6. A period of continuous incapacity for work in accordance with Irish laws which occurs while the person is resident in the United States shall be deemed to be a continuous period of incapacity for work under Irish laws for the purpose of determining if a person is permanently incapable of work.

PART IV

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Article 8

The Competent Authorities of the two Contracting States shall

(

a

) Make all necessary administrative arrangements for the implementation of this Agreement;

(

b

) Communicate to each other information concerning the measures taken for the application of this Agreement; and

(

c

) Communicate to each other, as soon as possible, information concerning all changes in their respective laws which may affect the application of this agreement.

Article 9

The Competent Authorities and the agencies of the Contracting States, within the scope of their respective authorities, shall assist each other in implementing this Agreement. This assistance shall be free of charge, subject to exceptions to be agreed upon in an administrative arrangement.

Article 10

7. Nationals of one of the Contracting States who are employed by the Government of that contracting State in the other Contracting State but who are not exempt from the laws of the other Contracting State by virtue of the Conventions mentioned in paragraph 6 shall be subject to the laws of only the first contracting State. For the purposes of this paragraph, employment by the United States Government includes employment by an instrumentality thereof, and employment by the Irish Government includes employment which would, under United States laws, be regarded as employment by an instrumentality of the Irish Government.

8. Where the same activity is considered to be self-employment under the laws of one Contracting State and employment under the laws of the other Contracting State, that activity shall be treated according to the provisions of this Article concerning self-employment if the person is ordinarily resident in the first Contracting State and according to the provisions of this Article concerning employment in any other case.

9. The Competent Authorities of the two Contracting States may agree to grant an exception to the provisions of this Article with respect to particular persons or categories of persons, provided that any affected person shall be subject to the laws of one of the Contracting States.

PART III

PROVISIONS ON BENEFITS

Article 6

The following provisions shall apply to the United States

S.I. No. 243 of 1993.

SOCIAL WELFARE (AGREEMENT WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ON SOCIAL SECURITY) ORDER, 1993.

WHEREAS the arrangements in respect of matters relating to social security set out in the Agreement in the Schedule to this Order (hereinafter called the "Agreement") were made by the Government of Ireland with the Government of the United States of America;

AND WHEREAS it is provided in Article 21 of the Agreement that the Agreement will be subject to compliance with all statutory and constitutional requirements for its entry into force;

AND WHEREAS it is provided in Article 21 of the Agreement that the Agreement will come into force on the first day of the third month following the month in which each Party to the Agreement shall have received from the other Party written notifications that it has complied with all statutory and constitutional requirements for entry into force of the Agreement;

AND WHEREAS the aforesaid written notifications were exchanged in Dublin on 24 June, 1993.

NOW THEREFORE the Minister for Social Welfare, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by

sections 3

and

307

of the

Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1981

(No. 1 of 1981 ), hereby makes the following Order:—