For the purposes of this Convention, the term 'permanent
establishment' means a fixed place of business through which the
business of an enterprise is wholly or partly carried on.
The term 'permanent establishment' includes especially:
a place of management;
a branch;
an office;
a factory;
a workshop; and
a mine, an oil or gas well, a quarry or any other place of
extraction of natural resources.
A building site, a construction, assembly or installation
project constitutes a permanent establishment only if such site or
project lasts for a period of more than six months.
Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Article, the
term `permanent establishment` shall be deemed not to include:
the use of facilities solely for the purpose of storage,
display or delivery of goods or merchandise belonging to the
enterprise;
the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to
the enterprise solely for the purpose of storage, display or
delivery;
the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to
the enterprise solely for the purpose of processing by another
enterprise;
the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for the
purpose of purchasing goods or merchandise, or of collecting
information, for the enterprise;
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;
the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for any
combination of activities mentioned in sub-paragraphs (a) to (e) of
this paragraph, provided that the overall activity of the fixed
place of business resulting from this combination is of a
preparatory or auxiliary character.
Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 of this
Article, where a person - other than an agent of an independent
status to whom paragraph 6 of this Article applies - is acting on
behalf of an enterprise and has, and habitually exercises, in a
Contracting 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
activities which that person undertakes for the enterprise, unless
the activities of such person are limited to those mentioned in
paragraph 4 of this Article 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.
An enterprise shall not be deemed to have a permanent
establishment in a Contracting State merely because it carries on
business in that State though 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, he will not be
considered an agent of an independent status within the meaning of
this paragraph.
The fact that a company which is a resident of a Contracting
State controls or is controlled by a company which is a resident 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.
