(1) For the purposes of this Agreement, unless the context
otherwise requires:
a) the term “Australia”, when used in a geographical sense,
means the territory of the Commonwealth of Australia, includ-
ing the following external territories:
i)
the Territory of Norfolk Island;
ii) the Territory of Christmas Island;
iii) the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands;
iv) the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands;
v) the Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands; and
vi) the Coral Sea Islands Territory,
and includes any area adjacent to the territorial limits of
Australia (including the Territories specified in this subpara-
graph) in respect of which there is for the time being in force,
consistently with international law, a law of Australia dealing
with the exploration for or exploitation of any of the natural
resources of the exclusive economic zone or the seabed and
subsoil of the continental shelf;
b) the term “Federal Republic of Germany”, when used in a
geographical sense, includes the territory of the Federal
Republic of Germany as well as the area of the seabed, its
subsoil and the superjacent water column adjacent to the
territorial sea, wherein the Federal Republic of Germany
exercises sovereign rights or jurisdiction in conformity with
international law and its national legislation for the purposes
of exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing the living
and non-living natural resources or for the production of
energy from renewable sources;
c) the term “tax” means Australian tax or German tax as the
context requires, but does not include any penalty imposed
under the law of either Contracting State relating to its tax;
d) the term “person” includes an individual, a company and any
other body of persons;
e) the term “company” means any body corporate or any entity
which is treated as a company or body corporate for tax
purposes;
f) the term “enterprise” applies to the carrying on of any busi-
ness;
g) the term “business” includes the performance of professional
services and of other activities of an independent character;
h) the terms “enterprise of a Contracting State” and “enterprise
of the other Contracting State” mean respectively an enter-
prise carried on by a resident of a Contracting State and an
enterprise carried on by a resident of the other Contracting
State;
i)
the term “international traffic” means any transport by a ship
or aircraft operated by an enterprise of a Contracting State,
except when the ship or aircraft is operated solely between
places in the other Contracting State;
j)
the term “competent authority” means:
i)
in the case of Australia, the Commissioner of Taxation or
an authorised representative of the Commissioner;
ii) in the case of the Federal Republic of Germany, the
Federal Ministry of Finance or the agency to which it has
delegated its powers;
k) the term “national” means:
i)
in relation to Australia, any individual who is a citizen of
Australia and any legal person, company, partnership or
association deriving its status as such from the laws in
force in Australia;
ii) in relation to the Federal Republic of Germany, any Ger-
man within the meaning of the Basic Law for the Federal
Republic of Germany and any legal person, partnership
or association deriving its status as such from the laws in
force in the Federal Republic of Germany;
l)
the term “collective investment vehicle” means a vehicle that
is widely-held, holds a diversified portfolio of securities or in-
vests directly or indirectly in immovable property for the main
purpose of deriving rent, and is subject to investor-protection
regulation in the State in which it is established and is:
i)
in the case of Australia, a trust that is a managed invest-
ment trust for the purposes of Australian tax;
ii) in the case of the Federal Republic of Germany, an invest-
ment vehicle within the meaning of the Investment Act
(Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch), other than a vehicle that has
been established as a partnership; and
iii) any other investment fund or vehicle established in either
Contracting State which the Government of Australia and
the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany
agree, in an Exchange of Notes, to regard as a collective
investment vehicle;
m) the term “recognised stock exchange” means:
i)
the Australian Securities Exchange and any other
Australian stock exchange recognised as such under
Australian law;
ii) any German stock exchange on which registered dealings
in shares take place; and
iii) any other stock exchange agreed upon by the competent
authorities.
(2) As regards the application of the Agreement at any time by
a Contracting State, any term not defined therein shall, unless
the context otherwise requires, have the meaning that it has at
that time under the law of that State concerning the taxes to
which the Agreement applies, any meaning under the applicable
tax laws of that State prevailing over a meaning given to the term
under other laws of that State.
de-australia-2016-base | BGBl. 2016 II S. 1114 | Signed: 2015-11-12 | Gazette publication: 2016-10-17
Source form
official-publication PDF with native text layer; reader is a machine transcription
Source scope
original implementing law, bilingual base treaty and accompanying protocol; not a current consolidated text
Retrieved
2026-09-30
Text and language scope
German and English versions are present in the source and are identified by the signing clause. Unreviewed coordinate-based machine transcription of this original source edition only. Printed line breaks, hyphens and uncertain token spacing are retained, not silently corrected. Treaty preamble, closing formula, protocol and shared signatures are separate retained assets, not part of the last article. Full supplements: /review/de-australia-2016-base/. PDF page links identify pages, not verified paragraph correspondence.
Review status
Pending human wording, completeness, source-authority, currentness, alignment and rendering review. No legal review performed.
Currentness
Original source edition; not a verified current-law consolidation. Unknown. No current-law consolidation, effective-period determination, MLI application, or complete amendment-chain verification has been performed. Original publication year is not a current applicability date. Bounded agent triage, no qualified wording/alignment/legal review. No exhaustive verification of all later 2026 developments. Matching digest proves retained source identity, not legal force.
Protocols and later instruments
The protocol printed with this agreement is separately preserved in source supplements; it has not been merged into treaty articles. Subsequent protocols, amendments, MLI effects, replacements and suspensions are unresolved. This is not a consolidated current-law instrument. Source-triage warnings: Bounded agent triage, no qualified wording/alignment/legal review. No exhaustive verification of all later 2026 developments. Matching digest proves retained source identity, not legal force.
Text language and status
en · authentic-language-transcription · machine-transcription
BGBl. 2016 II S. 1114 | de-australia-2016-base | de-australia-2016-base | BGBl. 2016 II S. 1114 | Signed: 2015-11-12 | Gazette publication: 2016-10-17 | Article 3 | en | Pending human wording, completeness, source-authority, currentness, alignment and rendering review. No legal review performed. | /library/treaties/de-australia-2016-base/en/articles/article-3/
Source, edition and limits
Source edition
de-australia-2016-base | BGBl. 2016 II S. 1114 | Signed: 2015-11-12 | Gazette publication: 2016-10-17
Source form
official-publication PDF with native text layer; reader is a machine transcription
Source scope
original implementing law, bilingual base treaty and accompanying protocol; not a current consolidated text
Retrieved
2026-09-30
Text and language scope
German and English versions are present in the source and are identified by the signing clause. Unreviewed coordinate-based machine transcription of this original source edition only. Printed line breaks, hyphens and uncertain token spacing are retained, not silently corrected. Treaty preamble, closing formula, protocol and shared signatures are separate retained assets, not part of the last article. Full supplements: /review/de-australia-2016-base/. PDF page links identify pages, not verified paragraph correspondence.
Review status
Pending human wording, completeness, source-authority, currentness, alignment and rendering review. No legal review performed.
Currentness
Original source edition; not a verified current-law consolidation. Unknown. No current-law consolidation, effective-period determination, MLI application, or complete amendment-chain verification has been performed. Original publication year is not a current applicability date. Bounded agent triage, no qualified wording/alignment/legal review. No exhaustive verification of all later 2026 developments. Matching digest proves retained source identity, not legal force.
Protocols and later instruments
The protocol printed with this agreement is separately preserved in source supplements; it has not been merged into treaty articles. Subsequent protocols, amendments, MLI effects, replacements and suspensions are unresolved. This is not a consolidated current-law instrument. Source-triage warnings: Bounded agent triage, no qualified wording/alignment/legal review. No exhaustive verification of all later 2026 developments. Matching digest proves retained source identity, not legal force.
Text language and status
en · authentic-language-transcription · machine-transcription