Compact of Free Association

The Compact of Free Association (COFA) is an international agreement establishing and governing the relationships of free association between the United States and the three Pacific Island nations that, together with the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, formerly composed the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau. The Trust Territory was a United Nations trusteeship administered by the United States Navy from 1947 to 1951 and by the Department of the Interior from 1951 to 1986 (to 1994 for Palau).

The compact came into being as an extension of the U.S.–U.N. territorial trusteeship agreement, which obliged the federal government of the United States "to promote the development of the people of the Trust Territory toward self-government or independence as appropriate to the particular circumstances of the Trust Territory and its peoples and the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned". Under the compact, the U.S. federal government provides guaranteed financial assistance over a 15-year period administered through its Office of Insular Affairs in exchange for full international defense authority and responsibilities.

Each of the associated states actively participate in all Office of Insular Affairs technical assistance activities. The U.S. treats these countries uniquely by giving them access to many U.S. domestic programs, including disaster response and recovery and hazard mitigation programs under the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and services provided by the National Weather Service, the United States Postal Service, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, and U.S. representation to the International Frequency Registration Board of the International Telecommunication Union. The Compact area, while outside the customs area of the United States, is mainly duty-free for imports.

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