Article 12 Royalties and technical service fees

Royalties or technical service fees arising in a Contracting State and paid to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.

However, such royalties or technical service fees may also be taxed in the Contracting State in which they arise and according to the laws of that State, but if the beneficial owner of the royalties or technical service fees is a resident of the other Contracting State, the tax so charged shall not exceed 8 per cent of the gross amount of the royalties or technical service fees.

The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall by mutual agreement settle the mode of application of paragraph 2.

The term ‘royalties’ as used in this Article means payments of any kind received as a consideration for the use of, or the right to use, any copyright of literary, artistic or scientific work including cinematograph films or films or tapes used for radio or television broadcasting, any patent, trade mark, design or model, plan, secret formula or process, or for the use of, or the right to use information concerning industrial, commercial or scientific experience.

The term ‘technical service fees’ as used in this Article means payments of any kind to any person, other than to an employee of the person making the payments, in consideration for any services of a managerial, technical or consultancy nature. Provided that the term ‘technical service fees’ shall not include any payments in consideration for supervisory activities in connection with a building site or construction, assembly or installation project or for supervisory activities in connection with installation incidental to the sale of machinery or parts thereof and income referred to in paragraph 1 of Article 14.

The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply if the beneficial owner of the royalties or technical service fees, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on business in the other Contracting State in which the royalties or technical service fees arise, through a permanent establishment situated therein, or performs in that other State independent personal services from a fixed base situated therein, and the right or property in respect of which the royalties or technical service fees are paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such case the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14, as the case may be, shall apply.

Royalties or technical service fees shall be deemed to arise in a Contracting State when the payer is that State itself, a political subdivision, a local authority or a resident of that State. Where, however, the person paying the royalties or technical service fees, whether he is a resident of a Contracting State or not, has in a Contracting State a permanent establishment or a fixed base in connection with which the liability to pay the royalties or technical service fees was incurred, and such royalties or technical service fees are borne by such permanent establishment or fixed base, then such royalties or technical service fees shall be deemed to arise in the State in which the permanent establishment or fixed base is situated.

Where, by reason of a special relationship between the payer and the beneficial owner or between both of them and some other person, the amount of the royalties or technical service fees, having regard to the use, right or information for which they are paid, exceeds the amount which would have been agreed upon by the payer and the beneficial owner in the absence of such relationship, the provisions of this Article shall apply only to the last-mentioned amount. In such case, the excess part of the payments shall remain taxable according to the laws of each Contracting State, due regard being had to the other provisions of this Convention.