ARTICLE 5
Permanent Establishment
(1) 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.
(2) The term "permanent establishment" includes especially:
- (a) a place of management;
- (b) a branch;
- (c) an office;
- (d) a factory;
- (e) a workshop;
- (f) a mine, an oil or gas well, a quarry or any other place of extraction of natural resources;
- (g) a farm or plantation;
- (h) a warehouse, in relation to a person providing storage facilities for others;
- (i) a building site, a construction, installation or assembly project or supervisory activities in connection there with, where such site, project or activities continue for a period or periods aggregating more than 6 months;
- (j) the furnishing of services including consultancy services by a resident of one of the Contracting States through employees or other personnel, where activities of that nature continue for the same or a connected project within the other Contracting State for a period or periods aggregating more than 6 months within any twelve-month period.
(3) 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 or display of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise;
- (b) the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise solely for the purpose of storage or display;
- (c) the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging 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 advertising, for the supply of information, for scientific research or for similar activities which have a preparatory or auxiliary character, for the enterprise;
- (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.
(4) 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 the enterprise of the other Contracting State, the enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the first-mentioned Contracting State, if such a person:
- (a) has and habitually exercises in the first-mentioned State, an authority to conclude contracts on behalf of the enterprise, unless his activities are limited to the purchase of goods or merchandise for the enterprise;
- (b) has no such authority, but habitually maintains in the first-mentioned State a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise from which he regularly fills orders or makes deliveries on behalf of the enterprise; or
- (c) has no such authority, but habitually secures orders in the first-mentioned State wholly or almost wholly for the enterprise or for the enterprise and other enterprises which are controlled by it or have a controlling interest in it.
(5) 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 or on behalf of that enterprise and other enterprises, which are controlled by it or have a controlling interest in it, he will not be considered an agent of independent status within the meaning of this paragraph.
(6) 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.