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ARTICLE 3
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General Definitions
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1. For the purposes of this Convention, unless the context otherwise requires:
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( a ) the term "person" includes an individual, an estate, a trust, a partnership, a company, and any other body of persons;
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( b ) the term "company" means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as a body corporate for tax purposes;
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( c ) the terms "enterprise of a Contracting State" and "enterprise of the other Contracting State" mean respectively an enterprise carried on by a resident of a Contracting State and an enterprise carried on by a resident of the other Contracting State;
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( d ) the term "international traffic" means any transport by a ship or aircraft, except when such transport is solely between places in a Contracting State;
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( e ) the term "competent authority" means:
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(i) in the United States: the Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate; and
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(ii) in Ireland: the Revenue Commissioners or their authorised representative;
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( f ) the term "United States" means the United States of America, and includes the states thereof and the District of Columbia; such term also includes any area outside the territorial waters of the United States which, in accordance with international law, has been or may hereafter be designated under the laws of the United States concerning the Continental Shelf as an area within which the rights of the United States with respect to the sea bed and subsoil and their natural resources may be exercised; the term, however, does not include Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam or any other United States possession or territory;
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( g ) the term "Ireland" includes any area outside the territorial waters of Ireland which, in accordance with international law, has been or may hereafter be designated under the laws of Ireland concerning the Continental Shelf as an area within which the rights of Ireland with respect to the sea bed and subsoil and their natural resources may be exercised;
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( h ) the terms "the Contracting State", "one of the Contracting States" and "the other Contracting State" mean Ireland or the United States, as the context requires; and the term "Contracting States" means Ireland and the United States;
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( i ) the term "national" in relation to a Contracting State, means any citizen of that State and any legal person, association, or other entity deriving its status as such from the laws in force in that State;
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( j ) the term "qualified governmental entity" means:
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(i) any person that constitutes the Government or a Department of Government of a Contracting State, or a political subdivision or local authority of a Contracting State;
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(ii) a person that is wholly owned, or the beneficial interest of which is wholly owned, directly or indirectly, by a Contracting State or a political subdivision or local authority of a Contracting State, provided (A) it is organised under the laws of the Contracting State, (B) its earnings are credited to its own account and (C) its assets vest in the Contracting State, political subdivision or local authority upon its dissolution; and
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(iii) a pension trust or fund of a person described in subparagraph (i) or (ii) that is constituted and operated exclusively to administer or provide pension benefits described in Article 19 (Government Service),
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provided the income of the entity does not inure to the benefit of a private person and the entity does not carry on commercial activity.
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2. As regards the application of the Convention at any time by a Contracting State, any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, or the competent authorities agree to a common meaning pursuant to the provisions of Article 26 (Mutual Agreement Procedure), have the meaning that it has at that time under the law of that State for the purposes of the taxes to which the Convention applies.