The John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition is a simulated hearing under the rules of the WTO dispute settlement system involving exchanges of written submissions and adversarial hearings before panelists on international trade law issues. The competition is organized by the European Law Students' Association (ELSA). The WTO has provided technical support for the competition since its inception in 2002.

This year, 73 student teams from 40 countries competed in the Regional Rounds, including South and West Asia, East Asia and Oceania, Africa, the Americas (North, South, and the Caribbean), and Europe. Seventeen teams competed in the South and West Asia Round, nine teams took part in the East Asia and Oceania Round, 15 teams participated in the African Round, 11 teams competed in the All-American Round, and 21 teams took part in the two European Regional Rounds. 

From these 73 teams, 24 qualified for the Final Oral Round, representing universities from 14 WTO members: Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia, France, India, Kenya, Moldova, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Ukraine, and the United States.  

In her opening remarks, DDG Ellard emphasized the importance of the John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition to capacity building by training students in international trade law, legal writing, and oral advocacy skills.

"The Jackson Moot is a powerful instrument in training a new generation of trade lawyers and in disseminating the importance of having secure and predictable rules-based trade. That is why the WTO has been a technical supporter of the competition since its inception more than 20 years ago," DDG Ellard said. She noted that former participants of the competition are working at the WTO Secretariat, and in governments, academia, think tanks, and law firms.

DDG Ellard congratulated Dr. Gracia Marín Durán and Ms. Iryna Polovets, authors of this year's moot court case, on developing a compelling and topical problem. "The case you all have been working on deals with one of the major challenges of the present day not only for the multilateral trading system, but for the very future of the planet," she continued.  "The case presents the challenges WTO members have been facing in crafting measures to tackle climate change in a manner consistent with their WTO obligations."

She drew students' attention to the ongoing work in the WTO on trade and environment-related issues, including fisheries subsidies, trade in environmental goods and services, circular economy, sustainable supply chains, trade in plastics, and fossil fuel subsidies.

"These efforts underscore the vision that trade plays a crucial role in addressing pressing environmental and climate challenges," she said.

Noting that the whole international trade community is behind the competition, DDG Ellard thanked all the sponsors and WTO staff members who contributed to the event and wished teams the best of luck.

During this week, teams will compete against each other before panels of WTO law experts. The grand final of the competition will take place on Saturday, 22 June, and will be livestreamed here.