Direct Tax Avoidance Agreements

Swiss Confederation

Article 3 : General definitions

1. In this Agreement, unless the context otherwise requires:

          (a) the term "India" means the territory of India and includes the territorial sea and the air space above it, as well as any other maritime zone in which India has sovereign rights, other rights and jurisdictions, according to the Indian law and in accordance with international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea;

          (b) the term "Switzerland" means the Swiss Confederation;

          (c) the terms "a Contracting State" and "the other Contracting State" mean India or Switzerland, as the context requires;

          (d) the term "person" includes an individual, a company, a body of persons, or any other entity which is taxable under the laws in force in either Contracting State;

          (e) the term "company" means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as a company under the taxation laws of the respective Contracting States;

          (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 "competent authority" means, in the case of India, the Central Government in the Department of Revenue or their authorised representative, and, in the case of Switzerland, the Director of the Federal Tax Administration or his authorised representative;

          (h) the term "national" means any individual possessing the nationality of a Contracting State and any legal person, partnership or association deriving its status from the laws in force in the Contracting State;

¹[(i) the term "international traffic" means any transport by a ship or aircraft operated by an enterprise of a Contracting State, except when the ship or aircraft is operated solely between places in the other Contracting State;]

          (j) the term "operation of aircraft" shall mean business of transportation by air of passengers, mail, livestock or goods carried on by the owners or lessees or charterers of aircraft, including the sale of tickets for such transportation on behalf of other enterprises, the incidental lease of aircraft and any other activity directly connected with such transportation;

          (k) the term "fiscal year" means :

               (i)  in the case of India, the "previous year" as defined in the Income-tax Act of India; and

               (ii)  in the case of Switzerland, the calendar year.

2. In the application of the provisions of this Agreement by a Contracting State, any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning which it has under the laws in force in that State relating to the taxes which are the subject of this Agreement.

Notes:-

1. Deleted & Replaced vide Notification No. 62/2011, Dated 27-12-2011, before it was read as:-

“(i) the term "international traffic" means any transport by an aircraft operated by an enterprise of a Contracting State, except when the aircraft is operated solely between places in the other Contracting State;”