Note: This Treaty may be impacted by the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent BEPS (MLI). MLI impact on Tax Treaties is available with the Orbitax International Tax Research & Compliance Expert.
ARTICLE 3
General Definitions
(1) For the purposes of this Convention unless the context otherwise requires:
- (a) the terms "a Contracting State" and "the other Contracting State" mean the Federal Republic of Germany or the Portuguese Republic as the context requires;
- (b) the term "Portugal" used in a geographical sense means the territory of the Portuguese Republic situated in the European continent and the archipelagoes of Azores and Madeira and includes any area outside the territorial sea of Portugal which, in accordance with international law, has been or may hereafter be designated, under the laws of Portugal concerning the continental shelf, as an area, within which the rights of Portugal with respect to the seabed and subsoil and their natural resources may be exercised;
- (c) the term "Federal Republic of Germany", when used in a geographical sense, means the territory in which the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is in force, as well as any area adjacent to the territorial waters of the Federal Republic of Germany designated, in accordance with international law, as related to the rights which the Federal Republic of Germany may exercise with respect to the seabed and subsoil and their natural resources, as domestic area for tax purposes;
- (d) the term "person" includes an individual and a company;
- (e) the term "company" means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as a body corporate for tax purposes;
- (f) the terms "enterprise of a Contracting State" and "enterprise of the other Contracting State" mean respectively an enterprise carried on by a resident of a Contracting State and an enterprise carried on by a resident of the other Contracting State;
- (g) the term "international traffic" means any transport by a ship or aircraft operated by an enterprise which has its place of effective management in a Contracting State, except when the ship or aircraft is operated solely between places in the other Contracting State;
- (h) the term "national" means:
- (i) in the case of Portugal:
- (aa) any individual possessing the Portuguese nationality;
- (bb) any legal person, partnership and association deriving its status as such from the laws in force in Portugal;
- (ii) In the case of the Federal Republic of Germany any German in the meaning of paragraph (1) of Article 116 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany and any legal person, partnership and association deriving its status as such from the law in force in the Federal Republic of Germany;
- (i) in the case of Portugal:
- (i) the term "competent authority" means:
- (i) in the case of Portugal: the Minister of Finance, the Director-General of Taxation (Director-Geral das Contribuicoes e Impostos) or their authorized representative;
- (ii) in the case of the Federal Republic of Germany the Federal Minister of Finance.
(2) As regards the application of the Convention by a Contracting State any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning which it has under the law of that State concerning the taxes to which the Convention applies.