(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.
(4) Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Article,
the term “permanent establishment” shall be deemed not to in-
clude:
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 subparagraphs 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 the provisions of paragraph 6 apply – is acting on behalf
of an enterprise and has, and habitually exercises, in a Contract-
ing State an authority to conclude contracts in the name of the
enterprise, that enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent
establishment in that Contracting State in respect of any activi-
ties which that person undertakes for the enterprise, unless the
activities of such person are limited to those mentioned in para-
graph 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.
(6) An enterprise shall not be deemed to have a permanent
establishment in a Contracting State merely because it carries
on business in that Contracting 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.
(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 Contracting State (whether through a permanent
establishment or otherwise), shall not of itself constitute either
company a permanent establishment of the other.
de-japan-2016-base | BGBl. 2016 II S. 956 | Signed: 2015-12-17 | Gazette publication: 2016-07-25
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 Japanese 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-japan-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. Known related/later instruments NOT included in this source (agent triage, not exhaustive): BEPS-MLI; general application from: 2026-01-01
Text language and status
en · authentic-language-transcription · machine-transcription
BGBl. 2016 II S. 956 | de-japan-2016-base | de-japan-2016-base | BGBl. 2016 II S. 956 | Signed: 2015-12-17 | Gazette publication: 2016-07-25 | Article 5 | en | Pending human wording, completeness, source-authority, currentness, alignment and rendering review. No legal review performed. | /library/treaties/de-japan-2016-base/en/articles/article-5/
Source, edition and limits
Source edition
de-japan-2016-base | BGBl. 2016 II S. 956 | Signed: 2015-12-17 | Gazette publication: 2016-07-25
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 Japanese 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-japan-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. Known related/later instruments NOT included in this source (agent triage, not exhaustive): BEPS-MLI; general application from: 2026-01-01
Text language and status
en · authentic-language-transcription · machine-transcription