Article 29 provides for an exchange-of-notes procedure whereby the convention, in whole…

part, may be extended to all or any of the areas for whose international relations the United States is responsible and which imposes taxes substantially similar in character to those which are covered by the convention. This applies only to those areas to which the convention is not otherwise applicable pursuant to the definition of "United States" in Article 3 (1) (a).

It is provided in Article 30 that the convention will enter into force one month after the date of exchange of instruments of ratification and that its provisions shall have effect for the first time with respect to income of calendar years or taxable years beginning (or in the case of taxes payable at the source, payments made) on or after January 1, 1971. Article 30 provides also that, as between the United States and Belgium, the 1948 convention, as modified and supplemented, shall terminate and cease to have effect in respect of income to which the new convention applies.

Pursuant to Article 31, the convention would remain in force until terminated by one of the parties. Either party has the right to terminate the convention at any time after five years from the date of its entry into force by giving a six-month prior written notice of termination. A special provision is included regarding Article 17 (social security payments) so that it may be terminated by either party at any time after the convention enters into force.

Respectfully submitted,

WILLIAM P. ROGERS.

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

THE WHITE HOUSE, August13, 1970 .

To the Senate of the United States:

With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the convention between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Belgium for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, signed at Brussels

on July 9, 1970.

For the information of the Senate, I transmit also the report of the Secretary of State with respect to the convention.

The existing income-tax convention of October 28, 1948 with Belgium. as modified by supplementary conventions of September 9, 1952, and August 22, 1957, and by the protocol of May 21, 1965, would be terminated and replaced by the new convention upon the coming into force of the latter.

In revising the existing convention, as modified, it has been possible to incorporate in a single comprehensive convention provisions which reflect changes in the internal tax laws of the United States and Belgium. The revised convention, while following in general the pattern of bilateral income-tax conventions now in force between the United States and a number of other countries, reflect in particular certain tax treaty policies established in recent revisions of such conventions with France, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the United Kingdom. Moreover, the revised provision reflect, to the extent that policy and technical considerations permit, the model income-tax convention published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

As in the cases of other income-tax conventions of the United States, provisions in the new convention with Belgium that are of special interest include those which relate to commercial and industrial profits, dividends, interest, royalties, and capital gains. The revised provisions regarding social security payments, governmental salaries and similar remuneration, income from teaching and research and other personal services, and exemptions to which students and trainees are entitled should also be of particular interest.

The maximum 15 percent rate of tax at source on dividends, as provided in the existing convention, is retained in the new convention. The 15 percent rate of tax at source on interest, as provided in the existng convention, is retained as a general rule in the new convention, but interest arising from commercial credit or on interbank transactions is exempted from tax. The provision of the existing convention granting an exemption from tax in the source country to royalties derived from sources within one of the countries by a resident of the other country is retained in the new convention.

I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration to the convention.

RICHARD NIXON .

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

CONSIDERING THAT:

The Convention between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Belgium for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income was signed at Brussels on July 9, 1970, the text of which Convention, in the English, French, and Dutch languages, is hereto annexed;

The Senate of the United States of America by its resolution of November 25, 1970, two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein, gave its advice and consent to the ratification of the Convention;

The Convention was duly ratified by the President of the United States of America on December 8, 1970, in pursuance of the advice and consent of the Senate, and was duly ratified on the part of the Kingdom of Belgium;

It is provided in Article 30 of the Convention that the Convention shall enter into force one month after the date of the exchange of instruments of ratification;

The instruments of ratification of the Convention were duly exchanged at Washington on September 13, 1972, and accordingly the Convention enters into force on October 13, 1972;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, proclaim and make public the Convention of July 9,1970 to the end that it shall be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States of America and by the citizens of the United States of America and all other persons subject to the jurisdiction thereof.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, have signed this proclamation and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

DONE at the city of Washington this twenty-fifth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred seventy-two and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-seventh.

RICHARD NIXON

By the President:

WILLIAM P ROGERS Secretary of State

CONVENTION

BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE KINGDOM OF BELGIUM FOR

THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBLE TAXATION AND THE PREVENTION OF FISCAL

EVASION WITH RESPECT TO TAXES ON INCOME

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

and THE GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF BELGIUM,

Desiring to conclude a convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income

Have agreed upon the following articles: