University of Szeged, Faculty of Law Where knowledge and challenge meet

Faculty of Law and Political Sciences  --  Faculty Units  --  Departments  --  Private International Law  --  Scientific Student Group on Private International and International Economic Law (PIIEL SSG)

Szeged Law Students in the 2012/2013 EMC2 WTO Moot Court Competition

2013-03-22_09-47-31_181The Regional Round of “EMC2 Elsa Moot Court Competition on WTO Law” 2012/2013 took place in Cluj-Napoca, where the team of the University of Szeged has fulfilled the expectations.

ELSA___WTO_MCCThe EMC2, which is one of the most well known international moot court competitions, was held for the 11th time by the ELSA International. The goal of the competition is to provide better insight for the participants into the operation of the World Trade Organization and its dispute resolution methods. In the competition 25 countries represented themselves, but the international scale was much wider due to the fact that most of the teams were composed by students from different countries. Hungary was represented, as so many times before, by the team of the University of Szeged.2013-03-23_16-43-21_128 The members of the team: ÁGAI Noémi, BARTOS Csilla, PÁLDEÁK Áron Bence és SZABÓ Gyula Máté; Coaches: Dr. CSÁSZÁR Mátyás Ph.D., assistant professor and Dr. TÓTH Benedek assistant lecturer.

 

The preparation for the competition carried out within the framework of the WTO Practice in Law course held by the Department of Private International Law. The first round was between October 2012 and January 2013 in which the team had to compose the written submissions of the two fictional parties (this year Fixitania and Libertania). The case contained several up to date legal problem, such as the appearance of the dual-exchange rate regime in a WTO member state or providing guarantee for only the banks with the majority of domestic shareholders.

 

2013-03-21_15-46-02_562After writing and sending the written submissions, the teams were delegated into one of the Regional Rounds. This year these rounds were held in Porto and in Cluj-Napoca and the Hungarian team were delegated to Cluj.

 

The first day was the International ELSA day, which the organizers and participants celebrated with extraordinary ceremony. After the reception, the opponent teams were selected, and the locals presented several surprises to the participants.

 

The legal pleadings took place on the second and third days. On the second day the team played the role of the respondent, against the Spanish team, while on the third day it acted as the complainant against the Dutch team (that later won the competition). After the pleadings the members of the Panel, who were internationally highly recognized WTO officials and experts evaluated the performances of the teams. But out of the 12 team only 4 could proceed to the semi-finals, and although the Hungarian team stood up exceptionally in the international environment with lots of LL.M. students inside, unfortunately it couldn’t proceed to the semi-finals.2013-03-22_15-38-14_436

 

The standards of the organization were outstanding, the participants have were treated with such kindness and attention as if they were real diplomats. 2013-03-20_16-03-19_298During the competition nothing went wrong, and during the evenings the organizers helped to release the stress with team building programs. The members of the Panel were very kind and helpful as well. One could ask them any type of questions, they kindly answered it, and they even engaged in the team building exercises as well. In total, the team gained unique experiences, which the members will surely make good use of. Every member of the team encourages everyone to take part in this competition, because even though it’s been 5 months of hard work, but at the end it’s worth it!

 

ÁGAI Noémi

BARTOS Csilla

PÁLDEÁK Áron Bence

SZABÓ Gyula Máté