PALIKIR, PO
HNPEI. November 18, 2024 – The Fourth Special Session of the Twenty-Third Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia have enacted amendments to the FSM Code, one of which is to address the matter of non-profit corporations in the Nation, and the other amendment is the implementation of the issue on Dual Citizenship.
Speaker Esmond B. Moses convened a 10-day Special Session on November 12, 2024, to tackle matters pending before the Body with its first Act being the establishment of the incorporation requirements for non-profit corporations operating in the FSM. Following an extensive review process that started in 2021 with the state laws along with corresponding regional laws, on November 15, 2024, the Congress passed Congressional Act (CA) 23-134, to amend Title 26 of the FSM Code by enacting a new Chapter 7 to:
- establish the incorporation requirements for non-profit corporations operating in the FSM;
- to establish the fee structure associated with the filing requirements of non-profit corporations;
- to set the mechanisms for dissolution of non-profit corporations;
- to require non-profit corporation to maintain articles of incorporation, by-laws and financial records for 6 years and make available the records for inspection by the Registrar of Corporations;
- to require non-profit corporations to submit annual reports to the Registrar of Corporations; and
- to authorize the Secretary of Justice with rulemaking authority to implement the Act; and for other purposes.
The Congress believes that the statute is a good baseline structure to “begin building a Non-Profit Corporation Law into the Code without being unduly restrictive on any activities. The structure of the provisions is intended to be an umbrella for Non-Profit Corporations to fall under without holding them to the intensive requirements of the Corporate Code that has previously been implemented.
“It would also allow provisions to be updated and amended should changes be called for without requiring a complete overhaul of the non-profit corporations’ law once implemented,” the committee report [SCR No. 23-73] concluded.
Another amendment to the FSM Code is through the passage of a statute which called to amend various sections of Title 7 on Citizenship to align the statute with the Dual Citizenship amendment adopted during the recent 4th FSM Constitutional Convention.
Another amendment to the FSM Code is through the passage of a statute which called to amend various sections of Title 7 [CITIZENSHIP] to align the statute with the Dual Citizenship amendment adopted during the recent 4th FSM Constitutional Convention.
The adopted amendment to Article III [CITIZENSHIP] of the Constitutional states the following:
- for Section 3, ‘citizen of another country shall not affect a person’s FSM citizenship’; and
- for Section 4, ‘a person who knowingly renounced their FSM citizenship remains an FSM national and as a national may regain their citizenship in accordance with the residency requirements and other conditions as may prescribed by law.’
Basically, the Constitutional Amendment recognizes dual citizenship for all FSM citizens and as a result: 1. the FSM nationals that lost their citizenship by virtue of not registering their intent to remain FSM citizen prior to age 21are now automatically FSM citizens; and 2. FSM citizens who knowingly renounced their FSM citizenship, are eligible to regain their citizenship under the naturalization process.
Accordingly, the Congress passed Congressional Act 23-137 and made amendments to Title 7 [CITIZENSHIP] in the following sections:
- to amend section 202 to align the statute with the dual citizenship constitutional amendment;
- to further amend section 203, and remove the provision which requires an FSM citizen entitled to foreign citizenship to register their intent to remain an FSM citizen within three years of their eighteenth birthday. Instead, a new section 203 is inserted to establish that FSM Citizens whom have knowingly renounced their FSM Citizenship are FSM Nationals and are eligible to apply to regain FSM Citizenship in accordance with the naturalization process under section 204 of title 7 FSM Code;
- to amend section 204 to remove the provision that requires an FSM national or child of an FSM citizen to renounce all previous citizenship and allegiance to all foreign powers upon naturalization; and finally
- to amend section 206 of the Code to remove the provision that an FSM citizen can lose FSM citizenship if obtain naturalization in a foreign state, take an oath of allegiance to a foreign state or vote in a foreign state election.
Both Acts have been transmitted to the President to sign into law or it automatically becomes law within 30 days of transmittal.
The sessions of the Congress are open to the interested public or can be viewed live online at www.cfsm.gov.fm.