ARTICLE 3

General Definitions

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

a) the term “Venezuela” means the Republic of Venezuela; b) the term “United States” means the United States of America but does not include Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, or any other United States possession or territory;

c) the terms “a Contracting State” and “the other Contracting State” mean Venezuela or the United States as the context requires;

d) the term “person” includes an individual, an estate, a trust, a partnership, a company, and any other body of persons;

e) the term “company” means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as a body corporate for tax purposes;

f) 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; the terms also include an enterprise carried on by a resident of a Contracting State through an entity that is treated as fiscally transparent in that Contracting State;

g) the term “national” means:

i) any individual possessing the nationality of a Contracting State; and ii) any legal person, association, or other entity (including an “ entidad ” or “ colectividad ”) deriving its status as such from the law in force in a Contracting State; h) the term “international operation of ships or aircraft” means any transport by a ship or aircraft, except when such transport is solely between places within a Contracting State;

i) the term “competent authority” means:

i) in the case of the United States: the Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate; and

ii) in the case of Venezuela: the Integrated National Service of Tax Administration (Servicio Nacional Integrado de Administración Tributaria– SENIAT), its authorized representative or the authority which is designated by the Ministry of Finance as a competent authority for the purposes of this Convention.

2. As regards the application of the Convention by a Contracting State, any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires or the competent authorities agree to a common meaning pursuant to the provisions of Article 26 (Mutual Agreement Procedure), have the meaning which it has under the laws of that State concerning the taxes to which the Convention applies.