The Double Taxation Relief (Taxes on Income) (Oman) Order 1998

ARTICLE 3 General definitions

(1) For the purposes of this Agreement, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) the term “the Sultanate of Oman” means all the lands of the Sultanate of Oman within its geographical boundaries, the territorial waters and continental shelf including all the islands belonging thereto, their territorial waters and continental shelf and the air-space of these lands, islands and territorial waters;

(b) the term “United Kingdom” means Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including any area outside the territorial sea of the United Kingdom which in accordance with international law has been or may hereafter be designated, under the laws of the United Kingdom concerning the Continental Shelf, as an area within which the rights of the United Kingdom with respect to the sea-bed and sub-soil and their natural resources may be exercised;

(c) the term “national” means:

(i) in relation to the Sultanate of Oman, any individual possessing the nationality of the Sultanate of Oman, and any legal person, partnership, association or other entity deriving its status as such from the law in force in the Sultanate of Oman;

(ii) in relation to the United Kingdom, any British citizen, or any British subject not possessing the citizenship of any other Commonwealth country or territory, provided he has the right of abode in the United Kingdom; and any legal person, partnership, association or other entity deriving its status as such from the law in force in the United Kingdom;

(d) the terms “a Contracting State” and “the other Contracting State” mean the Sultanate of Oman or the United Kingdom, as the context requires;

(e) the term “person” includes an individual, a company, a body of persons, and any commercial or industrial establishment owned or exploited by an individual which is treated as a taxable entity under the laws of the Sultanate of Oman, but subject to paragraph (2) of this Article does not include a partnership;

(f) the term “company” means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as a body corporate for tax purposes;

(g) 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;

(h) the term “operation of ships or aircraft in international traffic” means the business of transport by sea or by air of passengers, mail, livestock or goods carried on by an enterprise of a Contracting State as owner, lessee or charterer of ships or aircraft, including the sale of tickets on behalf of other enterprises, the incidental lease of ships or aircraft and any other activity directly connected with such transport but does not include transport by any ship or aircraft on journeys solely between places in the other Contracting State;

(i) the term “competent authority” means:

(i) in the case of the Sultanate of Oman, the Minister of National Economy and Supervisor of Ministry of Finance or his authorised representative; and

(ii) in the case of the United Kingdom, the Commissioners of Inland Revenue or their authorised representative.

(2) A partnership which is treated as a taxable unit under the laws of the Sultanate of Oman shall be treated as a person for the purposes of this Agreement.

(3) As regards the application of the Agreement at any time by a Contracting State, any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning that it has at that time under the law of that State for the purposes of the taxes to which the Agreement applies, any meaning under the applicable tax laws of that State prevailing over a meaning given to the term under other laws of that State.