S.I. No. 520/2001 - Double Taxation Relief (Taxes on Income and on Capital) (Kingdom of Norway) Order, 2001

1. Each of the Contracting States shall notify to the other the completion of the procedures required by its law for the bringing into force of this Convention.

2. The Convention shall enter into force on the date of receipt of the later of these notifications and shall thereupon have effect

a) in Norway

in respect of taxes on income or on capital relating to the calendar year (including accounting periods beginning in any such year) next following that in which the Convention enters into force and subsequent years;

b) in Ireland

(i) as respects income tax and capital gains tax, for any year of assessment beginning on or after the sixth day of April next following the date on which this Convention enters into force;

(ii) as respects corporation tax, for any financial year beginning on or after the first day of January in the year next following the year in which this Convention enters into force.

3. Where the provisions of Articles 8 and 23 of the Convention between the Government of Ireland and the Government of Norway for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and Capital signed at Dublin on 21 October, 1969 (hereinafter referred to as “the 1969 Convention”) would have afforded any greater relief from tax to a person entitled to its benefits than is afforded under this Convention, such provisions as aforesaid shall continue to have effect for a period of twelve calendar months from the date on which the provisions of this Convention would otherwise have effect in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2.

4. The provisions of the 1969 Convention shall cease to have effect when the provisions of this Convention take effect in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3.

Article 30

TERMINATION

This Convention shall remain in force indefinitely, but either of the Contracting States may, on or before 30th June in any calendar year beginning after the expiration of a period of five years from the date of its entry into force, give to the other Contracting State, through diplomatic channels, written notice of termination. In such event, the Convention shall cease to have effect

a) in Norway

in respect of taxes on income or on capital relating to the calendar year (including accounting periods beginning in such year) next following that in which the notice is given and subsequent years;

b) in Ireland

(i) as respects income tax and capital gains tax, for any year of assessment beginning on or after the sixth day of April next following the date on which the period specified in the said notice of termination expires;

(ii) as respects corporation tax, for any financial year beginning on or after the first day of January next following the date on which the period specified in the said notice of termination expires.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, duly authorised thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Convention.

DONE in Duplicate at Dublin this 22nd day of November, 2000, in the English and Norwegian languages.

For the Government of Ireland

For the Government of the

Kingdom of Norway

Martin Cullen

Liv Mørch Finborud

Given under the Official Seal of the Government,

this 20

th

day of November, 2001.

BERTIE AHERN,

Taoiseach.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

This Order gives force of law in Ireland to the Convention with Norway which is set out in the Schedule. This Convention replaces a previous Double Taxation Convention between Ireland and Norway, signed on 21 October, 1969 and which had been in effect, retrospectively, since 1967. The principal provisions of the new Convention are summarised below.

This Convention with Norway, which was signed in Dublin on 22nd November, 2000, is comprehensive in scope and is based on the OECD Model Convention.

It provides for the allocation of taxing rights between Ireland and Norway and for the granting of relief from double taxation with regard to items of income and capital gains which, under the laws of Ireland and the laws of Norway, may be taxed in both countries.

In many cases, the Convention awards the taxation right over items of income and gains to the country of residence of the recipient only, for example, for items such as business profits and gains on movable property, provided such income or gains do not arise through a permanent establishment or fixed base in the country of source, profits from the operation of ships or aircraft engaged in international traffic, interest, royalties and pensions. In other cases, such as certain government salaries, the Convention awards the sole taxation right to the country of source.

Where both countries continue to have taxing rights, for example in the case of dividend income, business profits arising through a permanent establishment which an enterprise resident in one country has in the other country, or in the case of capital gains arising from the disposal of immovable property or shares linked with immovable property, the Convention provides that the country of residence of the recipient of the income or gain will give credit against its tax on the income or gains for the tax paid in the other country on the same income or gains.

There are special provisions in the Convention dealing with the allocation of taxation rights for activities connected with the offshore exploration and exploitation of natural resources in each country.

The Convention also provides for safeguarding nationals and enterprises of one country against discriminatory taxation in the other country, for consultation between the competent authorities of the two countries for the purpose of resolving any doubts or difficulties arising as to the interpretation or application of the Convention and for the exchange of information that is relevant for carrying out the provisions of the Convention or of the domestic laws of each country in relation to the taxes covered by the Convention.

The Convention will enter into force when each country notifies the other of the completion of its procedures for bringing the Convention into force. It will thereupon have effect in both countries for tax periods beginning in the following year. An amendment to the text of the Entry into Force and Termination Articles of the Convention was agreed by means of an Exchange of Diplomatic Letters between both countries, in order to reflect the alignment of the income tax and capital gains tax years in Ireland with the calendar year. The provisions of the Convention signed in 1969 will cease to have effect when the provisions of this Convention take effect. However, where the provisions of Articles 8 (Dividends) and 23 (Methods of Eliminating Double Taxation) of the 1969 Convention would have afforded greater relief from tax than that afforded under the new Convention, these provisions will continue to have effect for a period of twelve months from the date on which the new Convention otherwise has effect.

5. 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 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.

Article 26

MUTUAL AGREEMENT PROCEDURE

6. Gains derived by a resident of a Contracting State from the alienation of

a) exploration or exploitation rights; or

b) property situated in the other Contracting State and used in connection with the exploration or exploitation of the seabed or subsoil or their natural resources situated in that other State; or

c) shares (including stock or any security) deriving their value or the greater part of their value directly or indirectly from such rights or such property or from such rights and such property taken together,

may be taxed in that other State.

In this paragraph “exploration or exploitation rights” mean rights to assets to be produced by the exploration or exploitation of the seabed or subsoil or their natural resources in the other Contracting State, including rights to interests in or to the benefit of such assets.

Article 22

OTHER INCOME

7. Where profits include items which are dealt with separately in other Articles of this Convention, then the provisions of those Articles shall not be affected by the provisions of this Article.

Article 8

SHIPPING, AIR TRANSPORT AND CONTAINERS

WHEREAS it is enacted by

sections 826

(1) and

828

of the

Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997

(No. 39 of 1997), that if the Government by order declare that arrangements specified in the order have been made with the government of any territory outside the State in relation to affording relief from double taxation in respect of income tax, corporation tax in respect of income and chargeable gains and any taxes of a similar character imposed by the laws of the State or by the laws of that territory, and that it is expedient that those arrangements should have the force of law, then subject to sections 168, 826 and 835 of that Act, the arrangements shall, notwithstanding any enactment other than section 168 of that Act, have the force of law

AND WHEREAS it is further enacted by

section 826

(6) of the

Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997

, that where such an order is proposed to be made, a draft of the order shall be laid before Dáil Éireann and the order shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by Dáil Éireann

AND WHEREAS a draft of the following Order has been laid before Dáil Éireann and a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by Dáil Éireann

NOW, the Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by

sections 826

(1) and

828

of the

Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997

(No. 39 of 1997), hereby order as follows