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Germany – China · Source editionArticle 12 Royalties

Unreviewed · applicability unverified

(1)

1. Royalties arising in a Contracting State and beneficially owned by a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.

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(2)

2. However, such royalties may also be taxed in the Contract- ing State in which they arise and according to the laws of that State, but if the beneficial owner of the royalties is a resident of the other Contracting State, the tax so charged shall not exceed: a) in the case of royalties referred to in sub-paragraph a) of paragraph 3, 10 per cent of the gross amount of the royalties, and b) in the case of royalties referred to in sub-paragraph b) of paragraph 3, 10 per cent of the adjusted amount of the royalties. For the purpose of this sub-paragraph “the adjusted amount” means 60 per cent of the gross amount of the royalties.

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(3)

3. The term “royalties” as used in this Article means: a) payments of any kind received as a consideration for the use of, or the right to use, any copyright of literary, artistic or scientific work, including cinematograph films, and films or tapes for radio or television broadcasting, any patent, trade mark, design or model, plan, secret formula or process, or for information (know-how) concerning industrial, commercial or scientific experience, and b) payments of any kind received as a consideration for the use of, or the right to use, any industrial, commercial or scientific equipment.

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(4)

4. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply if the beneficial owner of the royalties, being a resident of a Contract- ing State, carries on business in the other Contracting State in which the royalties arise, through a permanent establishment situated therein, or performs in that other State independent personal services from a fixed base situated therein, and the right or property in respect of which the royalties are paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such case the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14, as the case may be, shall apply.

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(5)

5. Royalties shall be deemed to arise in a Contracting State when the payer is a resident of that Contracting State. Where, however, the person paying the royalties, whether he is a resi- dent of a Contracting State or not, has in a Contracting State a permanent establishment or a fixed base in connection with which the liability to pay the royalties was incurred, and such royalties are borne by such permanent establishment or fixed base, then such royalties shall be deemed to arise in the State in which the permanent establishment or fixed base is situated.

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(6)

6. Where, by reason of a special relationship between the payer and the beneficial owner or between both of them and some other person, the amount of the royalties, having regard to the use, right or information for which they are paid, exceeds the amount which would have been agreed upon by the payer and the beneficial owner in the absence of such relationship, the pro- visions of this Article shall apply only to the last-mentioned amount. In such case, the excess part of the payments shall remain taxable according to the laws of each Contracting State, due regard being had to the other provisions of this Agreement.

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Source, edition and limits
Source edition
de-china-2015-base | BGBl. 2015 II S. 1647 | Signed: 2014-03-28 | Gazette publication: 2015-12-29
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
This source supplies German and English versions. The signing clause also identifies Chinese as authentic; that third version is NOT present in this reader. 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-china-2015-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
Citation
BGBl. 2015 II S. 1647
SHA-256
cd1af445f63ff433a95b45e466337082392d2ec4858cfcaad4629d1bd22b5d2a

Citation

Copyable citation

BGBl. 2015 II S. 1647 | de-china-2015-base | de-china-2015-base | BGBl. 2015 II S. 1647 | Signed: 2014-03-28 | Gazette publication: 2015-12-29 | Article 12 | en | Pending human wording, completeness, source-authority, currentness, alignment and rendering review. No legal review performed. | /library/treaties/de-china-2015-base/en/articles/article-12/

Disclaimers

Language switching retains matching article and paragraph identifiers. The mapping does not confirm reviewed legal or translational equivalence.

BGBl. 2015 II S. 1647

Unreviewed machine transcription. Not a verified current-law consolidation or legal advice. Later changes may be missing.

Source details · Preamble and protocol

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