Tunisia - Permanent establishment

Article 5. Permanent Establishment

Representative office

1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term “permanent establishment” means a fixed place of business in which the business of the enterprise is wholly or partly carried out.

2. The term “permanent establishment” shall especially include:
a) a place where a service is provided;
b) a branch;
c) an office;
d) a factory;
e) a workshop;
f) a mine, oil or gas well, a quarry or other place of extraction of natural resources;

Building site/ project

3. A construction site or assembly site is considered a permanent establishment if the activity at the site continues past six months. 4. Notwithstanding the prior provisions of the article, the term permanent establishment shall not be deemed to include:

a) the use of facilities solely for the purpose of storage, display or delivery 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, display or delivery;
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 for collecting information, for the enterprise;
e) the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for the purpose of pursuing other activities that are of an auxiliary or preparatory nature;
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.

Agent

5. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2, where a person - other than an agent of an independent status to whom paragraph 7 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 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 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.

Independent agent

7. An enterprise shall not be deemed to have a permanent establishment in a Contracting State merely because it carries out business in the State through a broker, general commission agent or any other agent of a independent status, provided that such persons are acting in the ordinary course of their business.

Controlled company

8. 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 out 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.