Direct Tax Avoidance Agreements

Syrian Arab republic

Article 3

GENERAL DEFINITIONS

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

a) the term "Syria" means, in accordance with international law, the territories of the Syrian Arab Republic including its internal waters, territorial sea, the subsoil thereof and the airspace above them to which Syria has sovereign rights and other maritime areas to which Syria has the right to exercise sovereign rights for the purposes of exploration, exploitation and conservation of natural resources.

b) the term "India" means the territory of India and includes the territorial sea and airspace above it, as well as any other maritime zone in which India has sovereign rights, other rights and jurisdiction, according to the Indian law and in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982;

c) The terms "Contracting State" and "other Contracting State" mean the Syrian Arab Republic or the Republic of India, as the context requires;

The term "person includes an individual, a company a body of persons and any other entity which is treted as a taxable unitunder the taxation laws in force in the respective Contracting States;

e) The term- 'national' means:

(i) any individual possessing the nationality of a Contracting State;

(ii), any legal person, partnership or association deriving its status as such from the Jaws in force in a Contracting State;

f) The term 'company' means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as body corporate for tax purposes;

g) The term "enterprise" applies to the carrying on of any business;

h) 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;

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 "competent authority" means:

a. in the case of Syria, the Minister of Finance or his authorized representative;

b. in the case of India: the Finance Minister, Government of India or his authorized representative;

k) the term 'tax' means Indian tax or the tax of the Syrian Arab Republic, as the context requires, but shall not include any amount which is payable in respect of any default or omission in relation to the taxes to which this Agreement applies or which represents a penalty or fine imposed relating to those taxes;

l) The term 'fiscal year' means:

i) in the case of India: the financial year beginning on the 1st day of April;

ii) in the case of Syria; the financial year beginning on the 1st day of January.

2. 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.