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. The term “permanent establishment” likewise encompass-
es:
a) A building site, or construction, assembly or installation
project or supervisory activities in connection therewith, but
only if such site, project or activities last more than twelve
months;
b) The furnishing of services, including consultancy services, by
an enterprise through employees or other personnel engaged
for such purpose, but only if activities of that nature continue
(for the same or a connected project) within a Contracting
State for a period or periods aggregating more than 183 days
within any twelve-month period.
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 belong-
ing to the enterprise solely for the purpose of storage, display
or delivery;
c) the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belong-
ing 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 in a Contracting State
on behalf of an enterprise of the other Contracting State and has,
and habitually exercises, in that Contracting State an authority
to conclude contracts in the name of the enterprise, that enter-
prise shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment in that
Contracting 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 provi-
sions of that paragraph.
6. 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. However, when the
activities of such an agent are devoted wholly or almost wholly
on behalf of that enterprise, and conditions are made or imposed
between that enterprise and the agent in their commercial and
financial relations which differ from those which would have been
made between independent enterprises, he will not be consid-
ered an agent of an independent status within the meaning of
this paragraph.
7. The fact that a company which is a resident of a Contract-
ing State controls or is controlled by a company which is a resi-
dent 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.
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
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 5 | 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-5/
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