Article 1
Personal scope
This Convention shall apply to persons who are residents of one or both of the Contracting States.
Article 2
Taxes covered
1. This Convention shall apply to taxes on income and on capital imposed on behalf of each Contracting State or of its political subdivisions or local authorities, irrespective of the manner in which they are levied.
2. There shall be regarded as taxes on income and on capital all taxes imposed on total income, on total capital, or on elements of income or of capital, including taxes on gains from the alienation of movable or immovable property, taxes on the total amounts of wages or salaries paid by enterprises, as well as taxes on capital appreciation.
3. The taxes to which the Convention shall apply are in particular :
(a) in Czechoslovakia :
– the taxes on profits;
– the wages tax;
– the tax on income from literary and artistic activities;
– the agricultural tax;
– the tax on population income;
– and the house tax
(hereinafter referred to as “Czechoslovak tax”);
(b) in Luxembourg :
– the income tax on individuals;
– the corporation tax;
– the tax on fees of directors of companies;
– the capital tax;
– and the communal trade tax
(hereinafter referred to as “Luxembourg tax”).
4. This Convention shall also apply to any identical or substantially similar taxes which are imposed after the date of signature of this Convention in addition to, or in place of, the existing taxes. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall notify to each other any significant changes which have been made in their respective taxation laws.
Article 3
General definitions
1. In this Convention, unless the context otherwise requires :
(a) the term “Czechoslovakia” means the Czechoslovak Republic;
(b) the term “Luxembourg” means the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg;
(c) the terms “a Contracting State” and “the other Contracting State” mean Czechoslovakia and Luxembourg as the context requires;
(d) the term “person” comprises an individual, a company and any other body of persons;
(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 “national” means :
(i) any individual possessing the nationality of a Contracting State;
(ii) any legal person, partnership and association deriving its status as such from the law in force in a Contracting State;
(h) 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;
(i) the term “competent authority” means :
(i) in the case of Czechoslovakia, the Minister of Finance of the Czechoslovak Republic or his authorized representative;
(ii) in the case of Luxembourg, the Minister of Finance of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg or his authorized representative.
2. In the application of this Convention by a Contracting State, any term not otherwise defined shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning which it has under the laws of that Contracting State relating to the taxes which are the subject of this Convention.
Article 4
Resident
1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term “resident of a Contracting State” means any person who, under the law of that State, is liable to taxation therein by reason of his domicile, residence, place of management or any other criterion of a similar nature. But this term does not include any person who is liable to tax in that State in respect only of income from sources in that State or capital situated therein.
2. Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then this case shall be determined in accordance with the following rules :
(a) he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State in which he has a permanent home available to him. If he has a permanent home available to him in both Contracting States, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State with which his personal and economic relations are closest (centre of vital interests);
(b) if the Contracting State in which he has his centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he has no permanent home available to him in either Contracting State, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State in which he has a habitual abode;
(c) if he has a habitual abode in both Contracting States or in neither of them, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State of which he is a national;
(d) if he is a national of both Contracting States or of neither of them, the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall settle the question by mutual agreement.
3. Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 a person other than an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then it shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State in which its place of effective management is situated.
Article 5
Permanent establishment
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 on.
2. The term “permanent establishment” shall include especially :
(a) a place of management;
(b) a branch;
(c) an office;
(d) a factory;
(e) a workshop;
(f) a mine, quarry or other place of extraction of natural resources;
(g) a building site or construction or assembly project which exists for more than six months.
3. 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 advertising, for the supply of information, for scientific research or for similar activities which have a preparatory or auxiliary character for the enterprise.
4. A person acting in a Contracting State on behalf of an enterprise of the other Contracting State — other than an agent of an independent status to whom paragraph 5 applies — shall be deemed to be a permanent establishment in the first-mentioned State if he has, and habitually exercises in that State, an authority to conclude contracts in the name of the enterprise, unless his activities are limited to the purchase of goods or merchandise for the enterprise.
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, where such persons are acting in the ordinary course of their business.
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 make either company a permanent establishment of the other.
Article 6
Income from immovable property
1. Income from immovable property including income from agriculture or forestry may be taxed in the Contracting State in which such property is situated.
2. (a) The term “immovable property” shall, subject to the provisions of sub-paragraphs (b) and (c), be defined in accordance with the law of the Contracting State in which the property in question is situated.
(b) The term “immovable property” shall in any case include property accessory to immovable property, livestock and equipment used in agriculture and forestry, rights to which the provisions of general law respecting landed property apply, usufruct of immovable property and rights to variable or fixed payments as consideration for the working of, or the right to work, mineral deposits, sources and other natural resources.
(c) Ships and aircraft shall not be regarded as immovable property.
3. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall apply to income derived from the direct use, letting, or use in any other form of immovable property.
4. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 3 shall also apply to the income from immovable property of an enterprise and to income from immovable property used for the performance of professional services.
Article 7
Business profits
1. The profits of an enterprise of a Contracting State shall be taxable only in that State unless the enterprise carries on business in the other Contracting State through a permanent establishment situated therein. If the enterprise carries on business as aforesaid, the profits of the enterprise may be taxed in the other State but only so much of them as is attributable to that permanent establishment.
2. Where an enterprise of a Contracting State carries on business in the other Contracting State through a permanent establishment situated therein, there shall in each Contracting State be attributed to that permanent establishment the profits which it might be expected to make if it were a distinct and separate enterprise engaged in the same or similar activities under the same or similar conditions and dealing wholly independently with the enterprise of which it is a permanent establishment.
3. In the determination of the profits of a permanent establishment, there shall be allowed as deductions expenses which are incurred for the purposes of the permanent establishment including executive and general administrative expenses so incurred, whether in the State in which the permanent establishment is situated or elsewhere.
4. Insofar as it has been customary in a Contracting State to determine the profits to be attributed to a permanent establishment on the basis of an apportionment of the total profits of the enterprise to its various parts, nothing in paragraph 2 shall preclude that Contracting State from determining the profits to be taxed by such an apportionment as may be customary. The method of apportionment adopted shall, however, be such that the result shall be in accordance with the principles laid down in this Article.
5. No profits shall be attributed to a permanent establishment by reason of the mere purchase by that permanent establishment of goods or merchandise for the enterprise.
6. For the purposes of the preceding paragraphs, the profits to be attributed to the permanent establishment shall be determined by the same method year by year unless there is good and sufficient reason to the contrary.
7. Where profits include items of income which are dealt with separately in other Articles of this Convention, then the provisions of those Articles shall not be affected by the visions of this Article.
Article 8
Shipping and air transport
1. Profits from the operation of ships or aircraft in international traffic shall be taxable only in the Contracting State in which the place of effective management of the enterprise is situated.
2. If the place of effective management of a shipping enterprise is aboard a ship then it shall be deemed to be situated in the Contracting State in which the home harbour of the ship is situated, or, if there is no such home harbour, in the Contracting State of which the operator of the ship is a resident.
3. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall also apply to profits derived from the participation in a pool, in a joint business or in an international operations agency.
Article 9
Associated enterprises
1. Where
(a) an enterprise of a Contracting State participates directly or indirectly in the management, control or capital of an enterprise of the other Contracting State, or
(b) the same persons participate directly or indirectly in the management, control or capital of an enterprise of a Contracting State and an enterprise of the other Contracting State,
and in either case conditions are made or imposed between the two enterprises in their commercial or financial relations which differ from those which would be made between independent enterprises, then any profits which would, but for those conditions, have accrued to one of the enterprises, but, by reason of those conditions, have not so accrued, may be included in the profits of that enterprise and taxed accordingly.
2. Where a Contracting State includes in the profits of an enterprise of that State — and taxes accordingly — profits on which an enterprise of the other Contracting State has been charged to tax in that other State and the profits so included are profits which would have accrued to the enterprise of the first-mentioned State if the conditions made between the two enterprises had been those which would have been made between independent enterprises, then that other State shall make an appropriate adjustment to the amount of the tax charged therein on those profits. In determining such adjustment, due regard shall be had to the other provisions of this Convention and the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall if necessary consult each other.
Article 10
Dividends
1. Dividends paid by a company which is a resident of a Contracting State to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.
2. However, such dividends may be taxed in the Contracting State of which the company paying the dividends is a resident, and according to the law of that State, but the tax so charged shall not exceed :
(a) 5% of the gross amount of the dividends if the beneficial owner is a company which holds directly at least 25% of the capital of the company paying the dividends;
(b) 15% of the gross amount of the dividends in all other cases.
The provisions of this paragraph shall not affect the taxation of the company in respect of the profits out of which the dividends are paid.
3. The term “dividends” as used in this Article means income from shares, “jouissance” shares or “jouissance” rights, mining shares, founders’ shares or other rights, not being debt-claims, participating in profits, as well as income from other corporate rights which is subjected to the same taxation treatment as income from shares by the laws of the State of which the company making the distribution is a resident.
4. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply if the beneficial owner of the dividends, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on business in the other Contracting State of which the company paying the dividends is a resident, through a permanent establishment situated therein, or performs in that other State independent personal services from a fixed base situated therein, and the holding in respect of which the dividends 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.
5. Where a company which is a resident of a Contracting State derives profits or income from the other Contracting State, that other State may not impose any tax on the dividends paid by the company, except insofar as such dividends are paid to a resident of that other State or insofar as the holding in respect of which the dividends are paid is effectively connected with a permanent establishment or a fixed base situated in that other State, nor subject the company’s undistributed profits to a tax on the company’s undistributed profits, even if the dividends paid or the undistributed profits consist wholly or partly of profits or income arising in such other State.
Article 11
Interest
1. Interest arising in a Contracting State and paid to a resident of the other Contracting State shall be taxable only in that other State.
2. The term “interest” as used in this Article means income from debt-claims of every kind, whether or not secured by mortgage, and whether or not carrying a right to participate in the debtor’s profits, and in particular, income from government securities and income from bonds or debentures, including premiums and prizes attaching to bonds or debentures.
3. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall not apply if the beneficial owner of the interest, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on in the other Contracting State in which the interest arises a business through a permanent establishment situated therein, or performs in that other State independent personal services from a fixed base situated therein, and the debt-claim in respect of which the interest is paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such a case, the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14, as the case may be, shall apply.
4. Where, owing to a special relationship between the payer and the beneficial owner or between both of them and some other person, the amount of the interest paid, having regard to the debt-claim for which it is 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 that case the excess part of the payments shall remain taxable according to the law of each Contracting State, due regard being had to the other provisions of this Convention.
Article 12
Royalties
1. Royalties arising in a Contracting State and paid to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.
2. However, royalties of the kind referred to in sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph 3 may be taxed in the Contracting State in which they arise, and according to the law of that State, but the tax so charged shall not exceed 10% of the gross amount of the royalties.
3. 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 :
(a) any patent, trade mark, design or model, plan, secret formula or process, or any industrial, commercial, or scientific equipment, or for information concerning industrial, commercial or scientific experience;
(b) any copyright of literary, artistic or scientific work including cinematograph films and films or tapes for television or radio broadcasting.
4. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply if the beneficial owner of the royalties, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on in the other Contracting State in which the royalties arise a business 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 are paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such a case, the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14, as the case may be, shall apply.
5. Royalties shall be deemed to arise in a Contracting State when the payer is that Contracting State itself, a political subdivision, a local authority or a resident of that Contracting State. Where, however, the person paying the royalties, 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 was incurred, and such royalties are borne by such permanent establishment, then such royalties shall be deemed to arise in the Contracting State in which the permanent establishment or fixed base is situated.
6. Where, owing to a special relationship between the payer and the beneficial owner or both of them and some other person, the amount of the royalties paid, 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 that case, the excess part of the payments shall remain taxable according to the law of each Contracting State, due regard being had to the other provisions of this Convention.
Article 13
Capital gains
1. Gains from the alienation of immovable property, as defined in paragraph 2 of Article 6, may be taxed in the Contracting State in which such immovable property is situated.
2. Gains from the alienation of movable property forming part of the business property of a permanent establishment which an enterprise of a Contracting State has in the other Contracting State or of movable property pertaining to a fixed base available to a resident of a Contracting State in the other Contracting State for the purpose of performing independent personal services, including such gains from the alienation of such a permanent establishment (alone or together with the whole enterprise) or of such a fixed base, may be taxed in the other State. However, gains from the alienation of movable property of the kind referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 22 shall be taxable only in the Contracting State in which such movable property is taxable according to the said Article.
3. Gains from the alienation of any property other than those mentioned in paragraphs 1 and 2, shall be taxable only in the Contracting State of which the alienator is a resident.
Article 14
Independent personal services
1. Income derived by a resident of a Contracting State in respect of professional services or other independent activities of a similar character shall be taxable only in that State unless he has a fixed base regularly available to him in the other Contracting State for the purpose of performing his activities. If he has such a fixed base, the income may be taxed in the other Contracting State but only so much of it as is attributable to that fixed base.
2. The term “professional services” includes, especially, independent scientific, literary, artistic, educational or teaching activities as well as the independent activities of physicians, lawyers, engineers, architects, dentists and accountants.
Article 15
Dependent personal services
1. Subject to the provisions of Articles 16, 18 and 19, salaries, wages and other similar remuneration derived by a resident of a Contracting State in respect of an employment shall be taxable only in that State unless the employment is exercised in the other Contracting State. If the employment is so exercised, such remuneration as is derived therefrom may be taxed in that other State.
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1, remuneration derived by a resident of a Contracting State in respect of an employment exercised in the other Contracting State shall be taxable only in the first-mentioned State if :
(a) the recipient is present in the other State for a period or periods not exceeding in the aggregate 183 days in the calendar year concerned; and
(b) the remuneration is paid by, or on behalf of, an employer who is not a resident of the other State; and
(c) the remuneration is not borne by a permanent establishment or a fixed base which the employer has in the other State.
3. Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Article, remuneration in respect of an employment exercised aboard a ship or aircraft in international traffic, may be taxed in the Contracting State in which the place of effective management of the enterprise is situated.
Article 16
Directors’ fees
Directors’ fees and similar payments derived by a resident of a Contracting State in his capacity as a member of the board of directors or another similar organ of a company which is a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.
Article 17
Artistes and athletes
1. Notwithstanding the provisions of Articles 14 and 15, income derived by a resident of a Contracting State as an entertainer, such as a theatre, motion picture, radio or television artiste, or a musician, or as an athlete, from his personal activities as such exercised in the other Contracting State, may be taxed in that other State.
2. Where income in respect of personal activities exercised by an entertainer or an athlete in his capacity as such accrues not to the entertainer or athlete himself but to another person, that income may, notwithstanding the provisions of Articles 7, 14 and 15, be taxed in the Contracting State in which the activities of the entertainer or athlete are exercised.
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2, income derived from such activities, as defined in paragraph 1, performed within the framework of cultural exchange between the Contracting States, shall be exempt from tax in the Contracting State in which these activities are exercised.
Article 18
Governmental functions
1. Remuneration, including pensions, paid by a Contracting State or a political subdivision or a local authority thereof to any individual in respect of services rendered to that State or subdivision or local authority thereof in the discharge of functions of a governmental nature may be taxed in that State.
2. However, the provisions of Articles 15, 16 and 19 shall apply to remuneration or pensions in respect of services rendered in connection with any business carried on by a Contracting State or a political subdivision or a local authority thereof.
Article 19
Pensions
Subject to the provisions of paragraph 1 of Article 18, pensions and other similar remuneration paid to a resident of a Contracting State in consideration of past employment shall be taxable only in that State.
Article 20
Students, professors and researchers
1. Payments which a student or business apprentice who is present in a Contracting State solely for the purpose of his education or training and who is or was immediately before such visit a resident of the other Contracting State receives for the purpose of his maintenance, education or training shall not be taxed in the first-mentioned Contracting State, provided that such payments are made to him from sources outside that State.
2. A student at a university or other institution for higher education in a Contracting State, or a business apprentice who is present in the other Contracting State for a period or periods not exceeding 183 days in the calendar year concerned and who is or was immediately before such visit a resident of the first-mentioned State, shall not be taxed in the other Contracting State in respect of remuneration for services rendered in that other State, provided that the services are in connection with his studies or training and the remuneration constitutes earnings necessary for his maintenance.
3. Remuneration which a resident of a Contracting State receives for undertaking research or for teaching, during a period of temporary residence not exceeding two years, at a university, research institute or other similar establishment for higher education accredited by the Government in the other Contracting State shall not be taxable in this Contracting State.
Article 21
Income not expressly mentioned
1. Items of income of a resident of a Contracting State which are not expressly mentioned in the foregoing Articles of this Convention shall be taxable only in that State.
2. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall not apply to income, other than income from immovable property as defined in paragraph 2 of Article 6, if the recipient of such income, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on business in the other Contracting State 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 income is 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.
Article 22
Capital
1. Capital represented by immovable property, as defined in paragraph 2 of Article 6, may be taxed in the Contracting State in which such immovable property is situated.
2. Capital represented by movable property forming part of the business property of a permanent establishment of an enterprise, or by movable property pertaining to a fixed base used for the performance of independent personal services, may be taxed in the Contracting State in which the permanent establishment or fixed base is situated.
3. Ships and aircraft operated in international traffic and movable property pertaining to the operation of such ships and aircraft, shall be taxable only in the Contracting State in which the place of effective management of the enterprise is situated.
4. All other elements of capital of a resident of a Contracting State shall be taxable only in that State.
Article 23
Elimination of double taxation
1. In Czechoslovakia, double taxation will be avoided in the following manner :
(a) Where a resident of Czechoslovakia derives income or owns capital which, in accordance with the provisions of this Convention, may be taxed in Luxembourg, Czechoslovakia shall, subject to the provisions of sub-paragraph (b) of this paragraph, exempt such income or such capital from tax but may, in calculating tax on the remaining income or capital of that person, apply the rate of tax which would have been applicable if the exempted income or capital had not been so exempted.
(b) Czechoslovakia, when imposing taxes on its residents, may include in the tax base upon which such taxes are imposed the items of income which according to the provisions of Articles 10, 12, 16 and 17 of this Convention may also be taxed in Luxembourg but shall allow as a deduction from the amount of tax computed on such a base an amount equal to the tax paid in Luxembourg. Such deduction shall not, however, exceed that part of the Czechoslovak tax, as computed before the deduction is given, which is appropriate to the income which, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 10, 12, 16 and 17 of this Convention, may be taxed in Luxembourg.
2. In Luxembourg double taxation will be avoided in the following manner :
(a) Where a resident of Luxembourg derives income or owns capital which, in accordance with the provisions of this Convention, may be taxed in Czechoslovakia, Luxembourg shall, subject to the provisions of sub-paragraphs (b) and (c), exempt such income or capital from tax, but may, in order to calculate the amount of tax on the remaining income or capital of the resident, apply the same rates of tax as if the income or capital had not been exempted.
(b) Where a resident of Luxembourg derives items of income which, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 10 and 12, may be taxed in Czechoslovakia, Luxembourg shall allow as a deduction from the tax on the income of that resident an amount equal to the tax paid in Czechoslovakia. Such deduction shall not, however, exceed that part of the tax, as computed before the deduction is given, which is attributable to such items of income derived from Czechoslovakia.
(c) Where a company which is a resident of Luxembourg derives dividends from Czechoslovak sources, Luxembourg shall exempt such dividends from tax, provided that the company which is a resident of Luxembourg holds directly at least 25% of the capital of the company paying the dividends since the beginning of the accounting year. The above-mentioned shares in the Czechoslovak company are, under the same conditions, exempt from the Luxembourg capital tax.
Article 24
Non-discrimination
1. The nationals of a Contracting State shall not be subjected in the other Contracting State to any taxation or any requirement connected therewith which is other or more burdensome than the taxation and connected requirements to which nationals of that other State in the same circumstances are or may be subjected.
2. The taxation on a permanent establishment which an enterprise of a Contracting State has in the other Contracting State shall not be less favourably levied in that other State than the taxation levied on enterprises of that other State carrying on the same activities. This provision shall not be construed as obliging a Contracting State to grant to residents of the other Contracting State any personal allowances, reliefs and reductions for tax purposes on account of civil status or family responsibilities which it grants to its own residents.
3. Enterprises of a Contracting State, the capital of which is wholly or partly owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by one or more residents of the other Contracting State, shall not be subjected in the first-mentioned Contracting State to any taxation or any requirement connected therewith which is other or more burdensome than the taxation and connected requirements to which other similar enterprises of that first-mentioned State are or may be subjected.
4. In this Article the term “taxation” means taxes of every kind and description.
Article 25
Mutual agreement procedure
1. Where a resident of a Contracting State considers that the actions of one or both of the Contracting States result or will result for him in taxation not in accordance with this Convention, he may, notwithstanding the remedies provided by the national laws of those States, present his case to the competent authority of the Contracting State of which he is a resident. The case must be presented within three years from the first notification of the action resulting in taxation not in accordance with the provisions of the Convention.
2. The competent authority shall endeavour, if the objection appears to it to be justified and if it is not itself able to arrive at an appropriate solution, to resolve the case by mutual agreement with the competent authority of the other Contracting State, with a view to the avoidance of taxation not in accordance with the Convention. Any agreement reached shall be implemented notwithstanding any time limits in the domestic law of the Contracting States.
3. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall endeavour to resolve by mutual agreement any difficulties or doubts arising as to the interpretation or application of the Convention. They may also consult together for the elimination of double taxation in cases not provided for in the Convention.
4. The competent authorities of the Contracting States may communicate with each other directly for the purpose of reaching an agreement in the sense of the preceding paragraphs. When it seems advisable in order to reach agreement to have an oral exchange of opinions, such exchange may take place through a Commission consisting of representatives of the competent authorities of the Contracting States.
Article 26
Exchange of information
1. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall exchange such information as is necessary for the carrying out of this Convention and of the domestic laws of the Contracting States concerning taxes covered by this Convention insofar as the taxation thereunder is in accordance with this Convention. Any information so exchanged shall be treated as secret and shall not be disclosed to any persons or authorities, including courts, other than those concerned with the assessment, collection, enforcement or prosecution in respect of taxes which are the subject of the Convention.
2. In no case shall the provisions of paragraph 1 be construed so as to impose on one of the Contracting States the obligation :
(a) to carry out administrative measures at variance with the laws or the administrative practice of that or of the other Contracting State;
(b) to supply particulars which are not obtainable under the laws or in the normal course of the administration of that or of the other Contracting State;
(c) to supply information which would disclose any trade, business, industrial, commercial or professional secret or trade process, or information, the disclosure of which would be contrary to public policy (ordre public).
Article 27
Diplomatic and consular officials
Nothing in this Convention shall affect the fiscal privileges of diplomatic or consular officials under the general rules of international law or under the provisions of special agreements.
Article 28
Exclusion of certain companies
This Convention shall apply neither to holding companies (sociétés holding) within the meaning of special Luxembourg laws, currently the Act (loi) of 31 July 1929 and the Decree (arrêté grand-ducal) of 17 December 1938 nor to companies subject to a similar fiscal law in Luxembourg. Neither shall it apply to income derived from such companies by a resident of Czechoslovakia nor to shares or other rights in such companies owned by such a person.
Article 29
Entry into force
1. This Convention shall be ratified and the instruments of ratification shall be exchanged at Luxembourg as soon as possible.
2. The Convention shall enter into force upon the exchange of instruments of ratification and its provisions shall have effect :
(a) in respect of taxes withheld at source, to amounts derived on or after 1st January in the calendar year next following that in which the Convention enters into force;
(b) in respect of other taxes on income, and taxes on capital, to taxes chargeable for any taxable year beginning on or after 1st January in the calendar year next following that in which the Convention enters into force.
Article 30
Termination
This Convention shall remain in force until denounced by one of the Contracting States. Either Contracting State may denounce the Convention, through diplomatic channels, by giving notice of termination at least six months before the end of any calendar year following after the period of five years from the date on which the Convention enters into force. In such event, the Convention shall cease to have effect :
(a) in respect of taxes withheld at source, to amounts derived on or after 1st January in the calendar year next following that in which the notice is given;
(b) in respect of other taxes on income, and taxes on capital, to taxes chargeable for any taxable year beginning on or after 1st January in the calendar year next following that in which the notice is given.
In witness whereof the undersigned, duly authorized thereto, have signed this Convention.
Done in duplicate at Luxembourg on 18 March 1991 in the Czech and French languages, both texts being equally authentic.
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