ARTICLE 10

Dividends

(1) Dividends that a enterprise resident in one Contracting State pays to a person resident in another Contracting State can be taxed in the other State.

(2) These dividends however can also be taxed in the Contracting State in which the enterprise paying the dividends is resident according to the laws of that State; however, if the beneficial owner of the dividends is a person resident in the other Contracting State, the tax may not exceed:

• (a) 0 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends, if the beneficial owner is a enterprise (but not a partnership), that holds a direct participation of at least 10 per cent of the voting shares of the enterprise paying the dividends at the time that the dividend is paid out and has held this participation for an uninterrupted period of at least twelve months;
• (b) 5 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends, if the beneficial owner is a enterprise (but not a partnership) that directly owns more than at least 10 per cent of the voting shares of the enterprise paying the dividends and Letter (a) does not apply to the dividends;
• (c) 15 per cent of the gross amount of the dividend in all other cases. In the case of dividends that are paid by a German real estate stock corporation with listed shares (REIT AG), a German investment fund, a German investment stock corporation, a Liechtensteinian OGAW or a Liechtensteinian investment enterprise, Letter (c) and not Letter (a) and (b) will apply. This paragraph does not affect the taxation of the enterprise with respect to gains from which the dividends are paid.

(3) The term "dividends" used in this Article refers to income from shares, bonus shares, or profit sharing certificates or other rights -excluding debt claims-with profit participation as well as other income that are treated the same as income from shares under the law of the State in which the distribution enterprise is resident as well as in the Federal Republic of Germany distributions on share certificates in an investment fund and in the Principality of Liechtenstein distributions on shares in an OGAW or an investment firm.

(4) Paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Article are not applicable if the beneficial owner resident in one Contracting State exercises business activities in the other Contracting State in which the enterprise paying the dividends is resident through a permanent establishment located there and the participation for which the dividends are paid actually belongs to this permanent establishment. In this case Article 7 shall apply.

(5) If a enterprise resident in one Contracting State draws gains or income form the other Contracting State, this other State may neither tax the dividends paid by this enterprise unless these dividends are paid to a person resident in the other State or the participation for which the dividends are paid actually belongs to a permanent establishment located in the other State, nor subject the enterprise's gains to a tax on undistributed gains even if the dividends paid for undistributed gains consists wholly or partly of gains or earned obtained in the other State.