Artikel 3

1. For the purposes of this Convention, unless the context otherwise requires:
a) the terms “a Contracting State” and “the other Contracting State” mean the Kingdom of the Netherlands (the Netherlands) or Panama, as the context requires;
b) the term “the Netherlands” means the part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands that is situated in Europe, including its territorial sea, and any area beyond the territorial sea within which the Netherlands, in accordance with international law, exercises jurisdiction or sovereign rights;
c) the term “Panama” means the Republic of Panama and, when used in a geographical sense, means the territory of the Republic of Panama, including inland waters, its airspace, the territorial sea and any area outside the territorial sea upon which, in accordance with International Law and on application of its domestic legislation, the Republic of Panama exercises, or may exercise in the future, jurisdiction or sovereign rights with respect to the seabed, its subsoil and superjacent waters, and their natural resources;
d) the term “person” includes an individual, a company and any other body of persons;
e) the term “company” means any body corporate or any entity that is treated as a body corporate for tax purposes;
f) the term “enterprise” applies to the carrying on of any business;
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 “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;
i) the term “competent authority” means: (i) in the Netherlands: the Minister of Finance or his authorised representative;
(ii) in Panama: the Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas or its authorised representative;
(i) in the Netherlands: the Minister of Finance or his authorised representative;
(ii) in Panama: the Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas or its authorised representative;
j) the term “national” means any individual possessing the nationality of a Contracting State and any legal person, partnership or association deriving its status as such from the laws in force in that Contracting State;
k) the term “business” includes the performance of professional services and of other activities of an independent character;
l) the term “criminal tax matters” means tax matters involving intentional conduct which is liable to prosecution under the criminal laws of the Contracting State requesting information.
2. As regards the application of the Convention 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 Convention 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.