(1) For the purposes of this Agreement, 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, installation or assembly
project constitutes a permanent establishment only if it lasts
more than nine 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 enter-
prise;
b) the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise
belonging to the enterprise solely for the purpose of stor-
age, display or delivery;
c) the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise
belonging to the enterprise solely for the purpose of pro-
cessing by another enterprise;
d) the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for the
purpose of purchasing goods or merchandise, or of collect-
ing 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) An enterprise of a Contracting State shall be deemed to
have a permanent establishment in the other Contracting State
if it carries on supervisory activities in that other State for more
than six months in connection with a building site or a construc-
tion, installation or assembly project which is being undertaken
in that other State.
(6) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2,
where a person – other than an agent of an independent status
to whom paragraph 7 applies – is acting in a Contracting State
on behalf of an enterprise of the other Contracting State, that
enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment
in the first-mentioned State in respect of any activities which
that person undertakes for the enterprise if the person:
a) has, and habitually exercises in the first-mentioned State an
authority to conclude contracts in the name of the enter-
prise, 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; or
b) has no such authority, but habitually maintains in the first-
mentioned State a stock of goods or merchandise belong-
ing to the enterprise from which he regularly fills orders on
behalf of the enterprise.
(7) An enterprise of a Contracting State shall not be deemed
to have a permanent establishment in the other Contracting
State merely because it carries on business in that other 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.
(8) The fact that a company which is a resident of a Contract-
ing State controls or is controlled by a company which is a res-
ident of the other Contracting State, or which carries on busi-
ness in that other State (whether through a permanent estab-
lishment or otherwise), shall not of itself constitute either com-
pany a permanent establishment of the other.