Newsletter-21

224 NEWSLETTER 2016 Australia and the Government of Hong Kong for the Promotion and Protection of Investments (Hong Kong Agreement). This arbitration was conducted under the United Nations Com- mission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Arbitration Rules 2010. The tribunal, composed of Professor Don McRae, Professor Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler, and Professor Karl-Heinz Böckstiegel, rejected the claim on December 18, 2015 because of the jurisdictional objections, without entering into the merits. In the opinion of the tribunal, Philip Morris Asia’s claim was an abuse of process (abuse of rights), since Philip Morris Asia acquired an Australian subsidiary, Philip Morris (Australia) Limited, for the purpose of initiating arbitra- tion under the Hong Kong Agreement, challenging Australia’s tobacco plain packaging laws.