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Article 2 1. The competent authority may exclude from the application of this Convention—(a) Contracts by which a worker enters the service of an indigenous employer who does not employ more than a limited number of workers prescribed by the regulations or satisfy some other criterion prescribed thereby: (b) Any contract under which the only or principal remuneration granted to the worker is the occupancy or use of land belonging to his employer. 2. The competent authority may, after consultation with the employers' and workers' organizations representative of the interests concerned, exclude from the application of this Convention contracts entered into between employers and literate workers whose freedom of choice in employment is satisfactorily safeguarded ; such exclusion may apply to the whole of the workers in a territory, to the workers in any specified industry, to the workers in any specified undertaking, or to special groups of workers. Article 3 1. The regulations shall prescribe the maximum period of service which may be stipulated or implied in any contract, whether written or oral. 2. The maximum period of service which may be stipulated or implied in any contract for employment not involving a long and expensive journey shall in no case exceed twelve months if the workers are not accompanied by their families or two years if the workers are accompanied by their families. 3. The maximum period of service which may be stipulated or implied in any contract for employment involving a long and expensive journey shall in no case exceed two years if the workers are not accompanied by their families or three years if the workers are accompanied by their families. Article 4 1. When a contract made in one territory (hereinafter called the territory of origin) relates to employment in a territory under a different administration (hereinafter called the territory of employment), the maximum period of service which may be stipulated or implied therein shall not exceed either the maximum period prescribed by the regulations of the territory of origin or the maximum period prescribed by the regulations of the territory of employment. 2. The competent authorities of the territories of origin and of employment shall, whenever necessary or desirable, enter into agreements for the purpose of regulating matters of common concern arising in connection with the application of the provisions of this Convention. Article 5 This Convention does not apply to contracts entered into before the coming into force of the Convention for the territory where the question of its applicability arises. Article 6 1. In respect of the territories referred to in Article 35 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization, as amended by the Constitution of the International Labour Organization Instrument of Amendment, 1946, other than the territories referred to in paragraphs 4 and 5 of the said Article as so amended, each member of the Organization which ratifies this Convention shall append to its ratification, or communicate to the Director-General of the International Labour Office as soon as possible after ratification, a declaration stating—(a) The territories in respect of which it undertakes that the provisions of the Convention shall be applied without modification :

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