The agreement provides that Germany will count a worker's U.S. Social Security coverage, where necessary, in determining eligibility for German social security benefits. To be eligible for German totalization benefits, the worker must have at least 18 months of German coverage, but not enough to be insured for regular benefits.

Germany will generally credit 3 months of German coverage for each quarter of U.S. coverage. However, Germany will not credit any month which is already credited as a month of coverage under the German system.

Only German periods of coverage are used to determine the amount of German benefits, even when entitlement is based on combined U.S. and German coverage.

Exception: If a worker has credit for less than 6 U.S. QC's but is insured for a German benefit (with or without totalization), the U.S. QC's may be used to increase the amount of the German benefit.