Contest regulation (in english)

1. RFTA 2020 -International Sale of Goods - student competition named after Mikhail Rozenberg on international commercial arbitration (hereinafter – the competition), participants are teams formed from students of various universities of the Russian Federation and other countries.

2. The Competition is held in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the CCI of the Russian Federation and branches of the ICAC in the regions.

3. The Competition is held in order to stimulate the study of international private law, international arbitration law, civil and commercial law of foreign countries, civil and business law, as well as to promote the activities of the ICAC at the CCI of the Russian Federation (hereinafter – the ICAC). ICAC is an independent permanent arbitration institution and administers arbitrations of international disputes in accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation of July 7, 1993 № 5338-1 "On international commercial arbitration" as amended on December 29, 2015. By agreement of the parties disputes from contractual and other civil relations arising in the course of foreign trade and other types of international economic relations, including disputes involving individuals, may be transferred to the ICAC if the commercial enterprise of at least one party is located abroad, or if any place where a significant part of the obligations arising from the relations of the parties is to be performed, or the place with which the subject of the dispute is most closely connected is located abroad, as well as disputes in connection with the implementation of foreign investments in the territory of the Russian Federation or Russian investments abroad. Such disputes are settled by the international commercial arbitration in accordance with the Rules of arbitration of the international commercial disputes (Annex 2 to the order of the CCI of the Russian Federation No. 6 dated 11 January, 2017 http://mkas.tpprf.ru/ru/materials/).
4. Since international commercial arbitration is the most effective way to resolve commercial conflicts around the world, not only the volume of training courses and disciplines taught in various Universities is increasing, but also the number of Competitions (moot court Competition). Students within the framework of a model arbitration can try their hand, get the necessary skills and gain practical experience of representation in international arbitration.

5. The Rosenberg moot court began in 2014 and was the first Competition in the Russian Federation. In 2018 such Competitions, along with the RFTA, were also held by the Moscow State University of law named Oleg Kutafin, the Arbitration Association, the Russian Arbitration center at the Russian Institute of modern arbitration, the Ural State Law University. This indicates the demand for arbitration topics and the growing desire of students to gain practical skills through participation in competitive processes of international and domestic arbitration.

6. The Competition RFTA-2020 dedicated to the international sale of goods and takes the form of the arbitration hearing, as close as possible to reality.

7. The purpose of the Competition is to develop students' skills in representing the interests of the parties and persuading the arbitrators in the correctness of their arguments during the arbitration proceedings, determining the competence of the panel of arbitrators to resolve the dispute, the interpretation and application of the rules of law and legal norms, the formation and presentation of the legal position in the form of exchange of adversarial documents and by oral presentations in Russian and English.

8. The competition shall be conducted in Russian and English.
9. The Competition participants can be undergraduate students, graduate and post-graduate students of day training of higher educational institution. Each University can send up to 3 teams to participate in each section. The total number of teams from one University can be 6. Each team participates in only one section.
10. The purpose of the organization of the English section is to develop the participating skills of speaking in a foreign language, as well as to provide students and undergraduates from foreign countries with the opportunity to participate in the competition in English section.
11. The results of the competition are summarized for each section separately.

12. The competition is organized by the Department of Private International Law of the Faculty of International Law. The co-organizer of the competition is the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. The competition is supported by ICC Russia (the National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce in Russia), as well as by the competition partners.

13. The competition jury is headed by the Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Law Vadim.V. Chubarov.
14. Members of the Jury are practicing Russian and Foreign arbitrators, included in the List of arbitrators in international commercial, internal and corporate disputes of the ICAC at the CCI of the Russian Federation, as well as arbitrators of other foreign and domestic arbitration courts.

15. To ensure impartiality and equal treatment of the parties, the coaches of the teams participating in the competition, as well as professors and teachers of the RFTA do not participate in the jury of the competition.

16. The composition of the arbitration for each specific oral hearing shall be determined by the Organizing Committee.

17. The preparation and conduct of the Competition provides an organizing Committee, which is composed of: member of the Presidium of the ICAC, member of the Governing Council of UNIDROIT, head of the Department of private international law Professor A. S. Komarov (Chairman), Director of the Center for arbitration and mediation of the CCI of the Russian Federation D. N. Podshibyakin (Deputy Chairman of the Organizing Committee), head of the Department of the procedural law I. N. Lukianova (Executive director of Moot), member of the Presidium of the ICAC Professor of international private law Department N.G. Vilkova, Professor of the private international law Department, L. B. Zabelova, Assistant professors of the private international law Department G. A. Packerman, arbitrators of the ICAC at the CCI of the Russian Federation I. Z., Grecu, E.V. Smirnova, Chief editor of the magazine "Arbitration" G. V. Sevast'yanov.
18. The Competition for each section consists of two rounds:
The first round - preparing Memoranda of both parties in accordance with facts of the case which shall be published in English and in Russian up to November 1, 2019
The second round - moot courts. The first round of the moot courts, where each team will take part in 2 moots (as a Claimant and as a Respondent) will be held in RFTA on March 18, 2020. The second round of the moot courts (quarterfinals and semifinals) will be held in RFTA on March 19, 2020. The final round will take place on March 20, 2020 in the Congress center of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russian Federation.
19. The Competition is held on the basis of the Rules of arbitration of international commercial disputes (Annex 2 to the order of the CCI of the Russian Federation No. 6 of January 11, 2017, posted on the website of the ICAC http://mkas.tpprf.ru.

20. The Oral hearings are held with the following rounds:

The first (preliminary) round, according to the results of which participants are selected in the quarterfinal round.

The second round, according to the results of which participants are selected in the semifinal round.

The third round, according to the results of which participants are selected in the final round

The final round, according to the results of which the winners are determined.

21. The Awarding of the winners and closing ceremony will be held on March 20, 2020 at the Congress center of the RF CCI.

22. Registration for participation in the Competition is made by filling in an application form for participation in the selected section. Participation in the Competition is free of charge. Participants of the Competition are responsible for transportation costs and expenses for their stay in Moscow.

23. The application must be completed and sent no later than January 20, 2020. The application must include the name of the team members, their affiliation to the University (faculty), the course of study and the direction of the specialization, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of each member of the team and the coach.

• Applications for the international arbitration section, conducted in Russian, are sent to member of the organizing Committee Alexander Dergachyov vavt.konkurs2020@yandex.ru

• Applications for the international arbitration section, conducted in English, are sent to the member of the organizing Committee Viktoria Skorina rozenbergmootcourt@mail.ru

24. Each University can send up to 3 teams to participate in each section. The total number of teams from one University can be 6.

25. The results of the Competition are summed up for each section separately. Each team will participate in the Competition and in the same partition.

26. The team can consist of two to four people. The team may be accompanied by a coach, whose data must also be specified in the application.

27. The final composition of the team should be determined not later than the day of sending the Memorandum of the Claimant, which should contain the names of the team members, contact person and his e-mail address for the subsequent direction of the Memorandum to another team, in respect of which it is required to prepare a Memorandum of the Respondent, as well as other correspondence related to the competition. At subsequent stages, changes in the composition of the teams are allowed only for a good reason (illness, etc.) and with the prior consent of the Organizing Committee.

28. Case, on the basis of which the Competition is Held, will be posted until November 1, 2019 on the website of the RFTA.

29. Teams until January 20, 2020 can send clarifying questions about certain factual or legal aspects of the educational business to the member of the Organizing committee Vilkova N. G. address vilkova.n.g@gmail. The answers to the questions will be published on the website http://www.vavt.ru/moot/site/konkurs_rosenberg2020

30. Each team prepares a Memorandum for the Claimant and a Memorandum for the Respondent.

31. The Claimant’s memorandum must be prepared and before February 03, 2020 until 18.00 Moscow time each team shall send it to the member of the Organizing committee, who registered the team in one of the sections of the competition. The contact person of the team and its e-mail must be included in the Memorandum.
32. After receiving the Claimants memoranda on 5 February 2020 the Organizing committee invites representatives of the teams for the draw to determine the pairs of opponents in the hearings of the first round.

33. Each member of the organizing Committee, who registered the team to participate in one of the sections of the Competition, not later than February 6, 2020 until 18.00 Moscow time sent a Memorandum of the Claimant, prepared by the opponent in the hearing in which the team takes the position of the Respondent.

34. On the basis of the received Memorandum of the Claimant, the team prepares a Memorandum of the Respondent and not later than March 06, 2020 until 18 hours Moscow time sends it to a member of the Organizing committee, which carried out the registration of the team to participate in one of the sections of the Competition, as well as to the team of the Claimant by e-mail contact person team.

35. Memoranda of the Claimant and of the Respondent must meet the following requirements: the content of each Memorandum should not exceed 25 pages of text executed in font TimesNewRoman 12 PT, one and a half line spacing, left field – 3 cm, right – 1.5 cm, upper and lower fields – 2 cm. Memorandum is submitted in pdf format. Each paragraph must be numbered. The title page, table of contents and list of sources are not included in the content. Abbreviations are given in the text, footnotes are placed page by page.

36. The Memoranda should contain references only to evidence in the case; link to not existing evidence or new evidence is not allowed. The absence in the text of the contract or in other documents of the case of any data or information means that these data or information do not matter for the game case or there are no disputes between the parties.

37. The Memoranda must contain references to the applicable law, legal norms, doctrinal sources and arbitration awards (case law) on which the legal position of the party is based.

38. The Memorandum contains the following sections: the title page, the content, the list of sources used, a very brief summary of the factual circumstances, the presentation of the arguments, including their legal and factual justification, the conclusions and the final position of the party.

39. Once the texts of the memoranda have been sent, they may not be amended. At presentation of the positions during oral hearings of semi-final and final rounds the motivated deviation from the positions stated in memoranda and arguments is allowed. However, you must keep in mind that the Tribunal can critically evaluate the change in command of its position, considered the arguments, or the arguments are not substantiated or unproven.

40. During the oral hearings of the first, semifinal and final rounds each team is represented by two participants; each team is given 30 minutes to present its position and 5 minutes for concluding remarks, members of each team distributes their own specified time between the two speakers, given the time required to speak each of them, as well as the time required for the final word on the outcome of the hearing. Prior to the oral hearings, the teams may agree on the schedule and order of performance of the Claimant's team and the Respondent's team. In the absence of agreement between the teams on the sequence of performances and the allocation of time, the decision on this is made by the arbitrators taking into account the total time limit.

41. The arbitrators may ask questions to the speakers both during the presentation of the position and after; in addition, the arbitrators may provide each team with additional time to answer the questions.

42. During the oral hearing, the participants can use the materials of the case, the Memoranda made by them of the recording or graphical design. The use of computer equipment is allowed. However, all electronic devices for data transmission over the Internet or other type of connection must be switched off.

43. At the end of the oral hearing, the arbitrators shall make comments and recommendations on the statements of the parties.

44. Oral hearings are held in open session. The presence of members of the organizing Committee, arbitrators and team members not participating in the oral hearings, coaches, students of RFTA and other universities, as well as other persons is allowed.

45. The final evaluation of the team based on the results of the oral hearings of the first round (maximum 100 points) consists of two components by summing the following indicators:

a. 50 % of the final evaluation is the evaluation of the memoranda prepared by the team of the Claimant and the Respondent;

b. 50% of the final evaluation is the evaluation of the team's performances in the oral hearings of the first round as a Claimant and as a Respondent.

46. The Memorandum prepared by the team (the Claimant's Memorandum and the Respondent's Memorandum) is evaluated by three arbitrators who participated in the respective oral hearing.

47. Each arbitrator evaluates the Memorandum by rating from 1 to 25 points (1-7 points – "bad", 8-15 points – "satisfactory", 16-20 points – "good", 21-25 points – "excellent"). The overall score of each Memorandum is defined as the arithmetic mean of the arbitrators' scores, and the overall score of the team for preparing memoranda is defined as the sum of the score for the Caimant's Memorandum and for the Respondent's Memorandum.

48. The evaluation of memoranda takes into account:

i. credibility, consistency and completeness of the argument;

ii. ability to use facts, case materials, legal norms, doctrinal and other theoretical sources, arbitration practice to substantiate the position of the represented party;

iii. use of facts and materials of the case;

iv. completeness of the analysis of the position of the second party to the dispute;

v. general structure and execution of the Memorandum.

49. The performance of the team in each oral hearing is evaluated by three arbitrators participating in the hearing. Each referee gives each team member a score from 1 to 25 points (1-7 points – "bad", 8-15 points – "satisfactory", 16-20 points – "good", 21-25 points – "excellent").

50. Each team member's score for the oral hearing is determined as the arithmetic mean of the three arbitrators' scores, and the team's score for each oral hearing is determined as the arithmetic mean of the scores of the two participants who participated in the hearing.

51. The team's overall score for oral presentation is defined as the sum of the scores for the two hearings. In the first round of the hearing, the arbitrators do not announce the evaluation after the meeting.

52. The evaluation of oral hearings shall take into account:

i. organization of the speech in terms of the allocation of time allotted for the speech;

ii. the legal culture of oral speech;

iii. logic, harmony of performance;

iv. persuasiveness and ability to present and justify a position;

v. answers to the arbitrators ' questions;

vi. general behavior during the hearing.

53. The arbitrators shall be free to evaluate their statements during oral hearings and shall act on the basis of their internal conviction and independently of each other.

54. At the end of the first round, teams are classified by places from the first to the last, depending on the overall assessment of the team in descending order of the overall assessment. Total team score is the sum total of the evaluation team for the preparation of the memoranda and the overall evaluation team for the performance at the oral hearings.

55. When determining the arithmetic mean, the number is rounded to the second decimal place according to the mathematical rules of rounding the numbers.

56. If two or more teams have equal overall ratings, the team with the best result for oral hearings takes a higher place. At equality of the specified indicator the place of team is defined by results of an additional round of up to 20 min.

57. The stages of the Competition following the first round of oral hearings consist of successive stages of the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final of the Competition. At each of these stages, each team that enters the corresponding stage participates in one oral hearing, the team that wins the oral hearing enters the next stage, and the losing team is eliminated from the Competition.

58. The pairs of teams participating in the oral hearings of the quarterfinal round are determined by the following rule: the team having the first number following the results of the preliminary round meets the team having the eighth quarterfinal number, the team having the second quarterfinal number following the results of the preliminary round meets the team having the seventh quarterfinal number, etc. Teams' performance as a Claimant or as a Respondent is determined by drawing lots.

59. Pairs of teams participating in the oral hearings of the semifinal round are determined by the following rule: the team having the first semifinal number at the end of the preliminary round meets the team having the fourth semifinal number, the team having the second semifinal number at the end of the preliminary round meets the team having the third semifinal number. Teams ' performance as a Claimant or as a Respondent is determined by drawing lots.

60. In the final, the team presents a position opposite to the one they represented in the semifinals. If both teams in the final oral hearing at the previous stage presented the same position, their positions in the final round are determined by drawing lots.

61. Following the results of oral hearings of the quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds, the arbitrators participating in the corresponding oral hearing shall determine the winning and losing team by voting (won – lost, without specifying the score in points). The winning team is the team for which the simple majority of the arbitrators who participated in this hearing spoke. The decision on the results of the oral hearings of quarterfinal round shall be announced by the Organizing committee.

62. The decision on the results of the oral hearings of semifinal rounds shall be announced by the Chairman of the respective arbitral Tribunal.

63. Their decision on the results of the oral hearing of the final round shall be announced by the Chairman of Jury of Competition Vadim V. Chubarov during the ceremony of awarding the winners of the Competition.

64. Memoranda prepared by the teams in the quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds are not evaluated separately. However, the arbitrators participating in the oral hearings of the respective rounds shall be familiar with the Memoranda of the teams participating in those hearings and may take into account their content and the reasonableness of derogating from them in determining the winner in a particular oral hearing.

65. The winner of the Competition is the team that won the final. The second place is awarded to the team that reached the final. Two third places are awarded to the teams that reached the semifinals.

66. Experts from the organizing Committee and arbitrators determine the best of the participants of any of the teams participating in the Competition in the following nominations: "Best representative of the party" - first, second, third place, "Best Memorandum of the Plaintiff" - first, second, third place, "Best Memorandum of the Respondent" - first, second, third place, "Best speaker".

67. Experts from the organizing Committee and arbitrators determine the winning team in the nomination "The most creative use of M. G. Rosenberg's works" when presenting their position".

68. By decision of the Organizing committee, other nominations may be introduced.

69. Until January 20, 2019 applications for participation in the competition in English should be sent to the member of the Organizing committee Viktoria Skorina rozenbergmootcourt@mail.ru

70. Until January 20, 2019 applications for participation in the competition in Russian should be sent to the member of the Organizing committee Alexander Dergachyov vavt.konkurs2020@yandex.ru

71. Specific questions regarding certain factual or legal aspects of the school Affairs until the 20th of January 2020 should be sent to the member of the organizing Committee N. G. Vilkova at vilkova.n.g@gmail.com

72. On registration of travel documents and documents on participation in Competition it is possible to contact a member of the organizing Committee L. B. Zabelova at lzabelova@rambler.ru

73. For General logistics of the Competition and accommodation, you can contact Executive director of the competition I. N. Lukyanova at irinluk@bk.ru

74. Member of the Organizing Committee G. Pakerman galina.pakerman@gmail.com informe domestic and foreign universities on the Competition RFTA-2020.

75. Member of the organizing Committee E. Smirnova Smirnova.Ekaterina1@gmail.com provides communication with law firms.

76. Contact information of the Organizing Committee members:
Executive director of the Competition: I. N. Lukianova, Head of the Chair of Procedural Law, the reporter of the ICAC irinluk@bk.ru

Members of the Organizing Committee:
A. Dergachyov, Master student of the RFTA vavt.konkurs2020@yandex.ru;
I.Z. Greku, Arbitrator of the ICAC grecu.ilie@gmail.com
G. A. Pakerman, Associate professor of the Chair of Private International Law galina.pakerman@gmail.com
G. V. Sevastianov, Managing editor of journal “Arbitration” svgleb@mail.ru
V. Skorina, Master student of the RFTA - rozenbergmootcourt@mail.ru
E.V. Smirnova, Arbitrator of the ICAC smirnova.ekaterina1@gmail.com
N.G. Vilkova, Professor of the Chair of Private International Law, member of the Presidium and arbitrator of the ICAC vilkova.n.g@gmail.com
L. B. Zabelova, Professor of the Chair of Private International Law, the reporter of the ICAC lzabelova@rambler.ru