Article 14 Independent Personal Services 1. Income derived by a resident of a Contracting State in respect of professional services or other activities of an independent character shall be taxable only in that State. However, such income may also be taxed in the other Contracting State in the following cases. (a) if the resident has a fixed base regularly available to him in the other Contracting State for the purpose of performing his activities; in such case so much of the income as is attributable to that fixed base may be taxed in the other Contracting State; or (b) if his stay in the other Contracting State is for a period or periods equalling or exceeding in the aggregate 183 days during the calendar year concerned; in such case only so much of the income as is derived from the activities performed in that other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State. 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, 19 and 20, 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 the 3 following conditions are simultaneously fulfilled: (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 derived in respect of an employment exercised aboard a ship or aircraft operated in international traffic may be taxed in the Contracting State in which the place of head office of the enterprise is situated. Article 16 Directors' Fees Directors' fees and other similar payments derived by a resident of a Contracting State in his capacity as a member of the board of directors or similar body of a joint-stock company which is a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State. The provisions of this Article shall also apply to payments derived by persons for the exercising of functions similar to those mentioned in the preceding paragraph. 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 by an entertainer or an athlete who is a resident of a Contracting State from activities exercised in the other Contracting State within the framework of cultural exchange programme between the Government of both States, shall not be taxed in that other State. Article 18 Pensions 1. Subject to the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 19, 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. 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1, pensions paid and other payments made by a Contracting State, a political subdivisions or a local authorities thereof or by a legal person which is part of the social security system of that State may be taxed in that State. Article 19 Government Service 1.(a) Remuneration, other than a pension, paid by a Contracting State or a political subdivision or a local authority thereof to an individual in respect of services rendered to that State or subdivision or authority shall be taxable only in that State. (b) However, such remuneration shall be taxable only in the other Contracting State if the services are rendered in that other State and the individual is a resident of that other State who: (i) is a national of that other State; or (ii) did not become a resident of that other State solely for the purpose of rendering the services. 2. (a) Any pension paid by, or out of funds created by, a Contracting State or a political subdivision or a local authority thereof to an individual in respect of services rendered to that State or subdivision or authority shall be taxable only in that State. (b) However, such pension shall be taxable only in the other Contracting State if the individual is a resident of, and a national of, that State. 3. The provisions of Article 15, 16 and 18 shall apply to remuneration and pensions in respect of services rendered in connection with a business carried on by a Contracting State or a political subdivision or a local authority thereof. Article 20 Professors Remuneration which an individual who is or was immediately before visiting a Contracting State a resident of the other Contracting State, and who is present in the first-mentioned State solely for the purpose of teaching, giving lectures or engaging in research at a university or other teaching or research institution recognized by that State, receives for such services shall not be taxable in that State for a period not exceeding, in total, 3 years as from the date of his arrival in that State. Article 21 Students Payments which a student or business apprentice who is or was immediately before visiting a Contracting State a resident of the other Contracting State and who is present in the first-mentioned State solely for the purpose of his education or training receives for the purpose of his maintenance, education or training shall not be taxed in that State. Article 22 Other Income 1. Items of income of a resident of a Contracting State not dealt with in the foregoing Articles of this Agreement and which arise in the other Contracting State shall be taxable in that other State. 2. Items of income of a resident of a Contracting State which arise from sources situated outside the other Contracting State shall be taxable only in the first State. 3. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 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 of fixed base. In such case the provisions of Article 7 of Article 14, as the case may be, shall apply. Article 23 Methods for the Elimination of Double Taxation 1. In the case of Belgium, double taxation shall be avoided as follows: (a) Where a resident of Belgium derives income which is taxable in China in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement, with the exception of the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 10, paragraphs 2 and 7 of Article 11 and paragraphs 2 and 6 of Article 12, Belgium shall exempt such income from tax but it may, in calculating the amount of its taxes on the remaining income of such resident, apply the same rate as if the income in question had not been exempted. (b) Where a resident of Belgium derives items of income which are included in his total income subject to Belgian tax and which consist of dividends taxable in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 10 and which are not exempt from Belgian tax by virtue of (c) below, of interest taxable in accordance with paragraphs 2 or 7 of Article 11, or of royalties taxable in accordance with paragraphs 2 or 6 of Article 12, Belgium shall allow a deduction from the tax on that income taking into account the Chinese tax on that income, whether or not such tax has actually been paid. Such deduction shall be equal to the lump-sum deduction of foreign tax provided by Belgian law, but the tax may not, however, be less than 15% of the amount of income in question received after deducting the Chinese tax which might be levied. The deduction is granted at a rate of 20% in the case of royalties which are taxable in China by virtue of the general rules of its tax laws but which are exempt from Chinese tax on the basis of special regulations for the economic development of the country. (c) where a company which is a resident of Belgium owns shares in a company which is a resident of China, the dividends paid to it by the last-mentioned company and which are taxable in China in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 10 shall be exempt from the corporate income tax in Belgium, to the extent that such exemption would have been granted had both companies been residents of Belgium. (d) Where, in accordance with Belgian law, losses incurred by an enterprise managed by a resident of Belgium through a permanent establishment located in China have been effectively deducted from the profits of that enterprise for purposes of Belgian taxation, the exemption provided in (a) shall not apply in Belgium to the profits of other taxable periods which are attributable to that establishment, to the extent that such profits will also have been exempt from tax in China because of their compensation by such losses. 2. In the case of China, double taxation shall be avoided as follows: (a) The tax levied in Belgium by virtue of this Agreement on income derived in Belgium and received by a resident of China shall be deducted from the Chinese tax payable by that Chinese tax calculated in accordance with Chinese law which is proportionally assignable to such income. (b) Where the income consists of dividends paid by a company that is a resident of Belgium to a company which is a resident of China and which owns more than 10% of the shares of the company paying the dividends, then, for the deduction from Chinese tax, the Belgian tax paid by the company paying the dividends which corresponds to those dividends must also be taken into account. Article 24 Non-discrimination 1. 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. This provision shall notwithstanding the provisions of Article 1, also apply to persons who are not residents of one or both of the Contracting States. 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 t residents of the other Contracting State any personal allowances, reliefs and reductions for taxation purposes on account of civil status or family responsibilities which it grants to its own residents. 3. Except where the provisions of Article 9, paragraph 7 of Article 11, or paragraph 6 of Article 12, apply, interest, royalties and other disbursements paid by an enterprise of a Contracting State to a resident of the other Contracting State shall, for the purpose of determining the taxable profits of such enterprise, be deductible under the same conditions as if they had been paid to a resident of the first-mentioned State. 4. 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 requirement connected therewith which is other or more burdensome than the taxation and connected requirements to which other similar enterprises of the first-mentioned State are or may be subjected. 5. The provisions of this Article shall, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 2, apply to taxes of every kind and description. Article 25 Mutual Agreement Procedure 1. Where a person considers that the actions of one or both of the Contracting States result or will result for him in taxation not in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement, he may, irrespective of the remedies provided by the domestic law of those States, present his case to the competent authority of the Contracting State of which he is a resident or, if his case comes under paragraph 1 of Article 24, to that of the Contracting State of which he is a national. 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 Agreement. 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 a satisfactory 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 which is not in accordance with the Agreement. 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 Agreement. 4. The competent authorities of the Contracting States may communicate with each other on the subject of the administrative measures which are necessary for carrying out the provisions of the Agreement and particularly on the subject of he proof to be provided by residents of each State in order to benefit in the other State from the tax exemptions or reductions provided by this Agreement. 5. The competent authorities of the Contracting States may communicate with each other directly for the application of the Agreement. Article 26 Exchange of Information 1. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall exchange such information as is necessary for carrying out the provisions of this Agreement or of the domestic laws of the Contracting States concerning taxes covered by the agreement insofar as the taxation thereunder is not contrary to the Agreement, in particular for the purpose of combatting tax fraud or evasion with respect to these taxes. The exchange of information is not restricted by Article 1. Any information received by a Contracting State shall be treated as secret in the same manner as information obtained under the domestic laws of that State and shall be disclosed only to persons or authorities (including courts and administrative bodies) involved in the assessment or collection of, the enforcement or prosecution in respect of, or the determination of appeals in relation to, the taxes covered by the Agreement. Such persons or authorities shall use the information only for such purposes. They may disclose the information in public court proceedings or in judicial decisions. 2. In no case shall the provisions of paragraph 1 be construed so as to impose on a Contracting State the obligation: (a) to carry out administrative measures at variance with the laws and administrative practice of that or of the other Contracting State; (b) to supply information which is 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 Diplomats Nothing in this Agreement shall affect the fiscal privileges of members of diplomatic missions or consular posts under the general rules of international law or under the provisions of special agreements. Article 28 Entry Into Force The Contracting States shall notify each other in writing through diplomatic channels that the procedures required by their respective laws for the bringing into force of this Agreement have been completed. The Agreement shall enter into force on the 30th day after the date of the later of the notifications. It shall apply to income arising as from 1 January of the year following that of its entry into force or to income pertaining to taxable periods beginning as from 1 January of the year following that of its entry into force. Article 29 Termination This Agreement shall remain in force indefinitely. However, 5 years after entry into force, each of the Contracting State may give notice through diplomatic channels, before 1 July of a calendar year of termination of this Agreement at the end of that calendar year. In such case, the Agreement shall cease to apply for the last time to income arising as from 1 January of the year following that of termination or to income pertaining to taxable periods beginning as from 1 January of the year following that of termination. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement. DONE at Beijing, 18 April 1985, in duplicate in the Chinese and French, Dutch languages, the three texts being equally authentic. For the Government of the People's For the Government of the Kingdom of Republic of China Belgium