- 1
- For the purposes of this Convention, the term "permanent establishment" means a fixed place of business through which the business of an enterprise is wholly or partly carried on.
- 2
- The term "permanent establishment" includes especially:
-
- a)a place of management;
- b)a branch;
- c)an office;
- d)a factory;
- e)a workshop, and
- f)a mine, an oil or gas well, a quarry or any other place of extraction of natural resources.
- 3
- A building site, a construction, assembly or installation project or supervisory or consultancy activities connected therewith constitute a permanent establishment only if such site, project or activities last for a period of more than twelve months.
- 4
- Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Article, the term "permanent establishment" shall be deemed not to include:
-
- a)the use of facilities solely for the purpose of storage, display or delivery of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise;
- b)the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise solely for the purpose of storage, display or delivery;
- c)the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise solely for the purpose of processing by another enterprise;
- d)the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for the purpose of purchasing goods or merchandise, or of collecting information, for the enterprise;
- e)the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for the purpose of carrying on, for the enterprise, any other activity of a preparatory or auxiliary character;
- f)the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for any combination of activities mentioned in sub-paragraphs a) to e), provided that the overall activity of the fixed place of business resulting from this combination is of a preparatory or auxiliary character.
- 5
- Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2, where a person - other than an agent of an independent status to whom paragraph 6 applies - is acting on behalf of an enterprise and has, and habitually exercises, in a Contracting State an authority to conclude contracts in the name of the enterprise, that enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment in that State in respect of any activities which that person undertakes for the enterprise, unless the activities of such person are limited to those mentioned in paragraph 4 which, if exercised through a fixed place of business, would not make this fixed place of business a permanent establishment under the provisions of that paragraph.
- 6
- An enterprise shall not be deemed to have a permanent establishment in a Contracting State merely because it carries on business in that State through a broker, general commission agent or any other agent of an independent status, provided that such persons are acting in the ordinary course of their business.
- 7
- Without prejudice to paragraph 4, where an enterprise of a Contracting State carries on business in the other Contracting State in coordinated joint business operations therein, with an enterprise which is a resident of or has a permanent establishment in that other Contracting State, the first-mentioned enterprise shall in respect of those business operations be deemed to have a permanent establishment in that other State.
- 8
- The fact that a company which is a resident of a Contracting State controls or is controlled by a company which is a resident of the other Contracting State, or which carries on business in that other State (whether through a permanent establishment or otherwise), shall not of itself constitute either company a permanent establishment of the other.
