PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW IN MOTION

ended

The PAX project –Private International Law in Motion- has been set up as an ambitious project which provides both an adequate follow-up to the earlier JUDGTRUST project (funded by the European Commission under the JUST-JCOO-AG-2017 programme for the period 2018-2020) and an the attempt to take these earlier achievements to the next level via enhanced knowledge and training in EU private international law (i.e. judicial cooperation in civil matters having cross-border implications in the EU, as referred to by Art.81, 1°, TFEU). The still ongoing JUDGTRUST project focuses on the Brussels Ibis regulation and has as its main objective to advance the correct and consistent application of this major piece of EU legislation on private international law. One of its most remarkable components is the launch of a Moot Court Competition to increase students’ awareness of its reach and significance. The first edition of this EU sponsored Moot Court Competition has taken place in the academic year 2018-2019, and has recently been concluded through two-day finals in the Hague at which 11 teams (not only of European, but also of Indian and Russian origin) participated. This Moot Court Competition turned out to an unexpected success in many respects: the interest that it has raised far beyond the Union’s borders, the large participation and the active involvement of not only students but also legal professionals and academics from a wide array of universities. Next year, a second edition will be organized, still under the JUDGTRUST project. The current project proposal PAX seeks to build further upon these first successes and hopes to consolidate these, but also to integrate them in a large framework that should not only increase students’ awareness of current issues of EU private international law but should also benefit more broadly the academic and professional world that is concerned with civil judicial cooperation in the EU and the concrete application of its instruments. With regard to this last aspect, the project innovates through its partnership with the judiciary, as it will structurally involve judges trainees. With the help of the European Judicial Network, a total of 40 judges trainees will be selected from various EU Member States to participate in the two expert workshops and act as judges for the Moot Court as well; this way, they will gain further professional expertise as well knowledge of EU private international law. Of course, their involvement is meant to benefit the participating students and academics as well, hence ensuring true cross-fertilisation; it will also raise the quality level and objectivity of the Moot Court itself. In short therefore, the funding applied for should enable the participating universities to further elaborate, improve and broaden the instrument that they have earlier developed –the international Moot Court Competition on EU private international law- in order to achieve the following objectives: - Consolidation, further improvement and expansion of a pan-European and international Moot Court Competition on EU private international law; - Increased awareness of EU private international law among students, legal professionals and academics; - Increased knowledge of students and junior legal professionals (judges trainees in particular) in EU private international law; - Opportunities for students and junior legal professionals (judges trainees in particular) to gain practical experience with the application of EU private international law; - Increased knowledge of EU private international law; - More efficiency and consistency in the interpretation and application of EU private international law, both within the EU and beyond; - Coordinated teaching, mutual learning, collaboration and enlarged networks for those concerned with the correct and consistent application of EU private international law instruments. It should be added that the project is both pan-European and internatio