Multilateral Instrument: Analysis of Options and Notifications with Reference to the Prevention of Treaty Abuse Article

This article analyses the technical rules of the options and notifications in the Multilateral Instrument, the legal structure and the game-tree structure of the MLI, and the legal principle underlying the reservations entered into by selected contracting jurisdictions with respect to article 7 – Prevention of Treaty Abuse. With the aid of the game-tree structure, it also considers how the selected contracting jurisdictions apply the provisions in article 7 to the Covered Tax Agreements and the policy choices available to the policy makers. The author pays attention to specific bilateral relations, especially those involving China, Hong Kong and Singapore.