INTERNATIONALAIRANDSPACELAWACADEMY

2014 International Finals Following regional competitions earlier this year, the 2014 International Finals will be contested between the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece) and the National University of Malaysia.

It is notable that both universities are participating in the IASLA Space Law Moot Court Competition for the first time.

The team from the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens com-prises students Olga Koutsika, Eleni Mavroudi, Theodora-Iliana Papacharalam-pous, and Lamprini Pliatsika, and is coached by Professor Georgios Kyria-kopoulos.

The National University of Malaysia team comprises students Choo Wen Chun, Lilian Lee, Aisha Nazura binti Rosli, and Muhammad Zaki bin Abdul Shukor, and is coached by Fatimah Yusro Hashim.

The International Finals will be held on 19-20 June 2014 in Paris, France.

For more information, please visit our website at http://www.spacemoot.org.

Ricky J. Lee

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

2014 International Finals ...... 1

The 2014 Moot Problem ....... 2

The 2014 Asia Pacific Regional Rounds.................... 2

Release of the 2015 Moot Problem ....................... 2

Competition Format .............. 3

Some Facts about Participating .......................... 3

Scenes from the Asia Pacific Regional Rounds.................... 4

Newsletter of the IASLA Space Law

Moot Court Competition

Space Advocacy

1 May 2014 Volume 2014, Issue 1

Each year, the Moot Problem is a well-written and challeng-ing scenarios. The IASLA runs a very well organised and conducted competition and I would unreservedly recommend it to anyone who wants to compete in a quality international mooting competition.

Dr. Vernon Nase, Curtin University (Australia)

The 2014 Asia-Pacific Regional Rounds were just held in April 2014 in Sydney, Australia.

After competing in four preliminary rounds in a round-robin format, which required each team to argue both sides of the Moot Problem, Curtin University (Australia) and the National University of Malaysia advanced to the Regional Final, in which the Australians were narrowly defeated by the Malaysians.

Regional Champions: National University of Malaysia

Best Memorials: Hidayatullah National Law University, India

Best Oralist: Gemma Mullins, Curtin University, Australia

The Asia Pacific Regional Rounds were sponsored by Schweizer Kobras.

The 2014 Moot Problem

Each year, at all levels of the IASLA Space Law Moot Court Competition, teams argue a common hypothetical space law case before the Interna-tional Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

The Case concerning State Succes-

sion and International Responsi-bility for Satellite Operations, dif-fers from those of previous years in notable ways. The problem relates to

liability for operations and collisions between space objects. The teams have to argue to principles of public international law as they exist in cus-tom rather than treaties.

“The 2014 Moot Problem is designed to encourage students to think of space law as an integral part of the body of public international law rather than a discreet and specialist area,” said Dr. Ricky Lee.

Release of the 2015 Moot Problem

The 2015 Moot Problem of the 

IASLA  Space  Law Moot  Court 

Competition, entitled the Case 

concerning  Scientific  Investi‐

gation  and  Nuclear  Power 

Use on Orbital Space Stations 

(Themisto  v  Bergelmir),  was 

released on 5 May 2014. 

The  action‐packed  2015 Moot 

Problem  deals  with  military 

space research, Wikileaks‐style 

public  disclosure  of  classified 

state  secrets,  meltdown  of 

secret  nuclear  reactor,  space 

station  modules  crashing  to 

the  Earth,  life  saving  space 

heroes,  and  rescue  of  crews 

stranded in space.  

The  2015  Moot  Problem  is 

now  showing at participating 

universities around the world. 

“ ”

2  Space Advocacy — Volume 2014 Issue 1 

The 2014 Asia-Pacific Regional Rounds

In the Regional Rounds of the IASLA Space Law Moot Court Competition, which are held in March or April each year, with each team competes in four round-robin Preliminary Rounds before the top 8 point-scoring teams advance to the quarter-finals, the winners of those advancing to semi-finals and so on. Each of these oral rounds are adjudicated by 3 judges, while memorials are adjudicated by a separate international panel.

In some of the Regional Rounds, national Domestic Funding Rounds are held in selected countries where a team may attempt to win funding to participate in the Regional Rounds. The number of Domestic Funding Rounds will increase over time to increase the participation of universities worldwide.

In 2012 , the Latin American Regional Rounds are expected to begin and, in future years, Domestic Funding Rounds will be organised in selected countries in the region. These rounds will be conducted in the Spanish language.

The regional champions of the Regional Rounds advance to the International

Finals, which are to be held in July each year. The details are yet to be finalised, but the current proposal is for the International Finals to be held in Amsterdam and The Hague in the Netherlands.

For more updated details and information, visit http://www.spacemoot.org.

Some Facts about Participation

While knowledge of space  law 

is  ideal,  it  is  ultimately  not 

necessary as  the problems are 

mostly based on general public 

international law. 

Teams  with  only  2  students 

have been  just as competitive, 

if not more so, than teams of 3 

or 4 students.. 

Having  a  coach  is  beneficial 

but certainly not essential. 

The competition has  relatively 

strict  rules  to ensure  fairness 

that are rigorously enforced to 

ensure  that  every  team  has  a 

fair chance of succeeding. 

The  anonymity  of  teams  

from the  judges of oral rounds 

and  memorials  is  preserved 

throughout the Competition. 

  

Space Advocacy — 1 May 2014                   

Competition Format Explained

The IASLA Space Law Moot Court Competition

PO Box R70 Royal Exchange NSW 1225 Australia

Tel: +61 (2) 9571 8203 Fax: +61 (2) 9223 4729 E-mail: mail@spacemoot.org Website: http://www.spacemoot.org

Scenes of the 2014 Asia-Pacific Regional Rounds

4  Space Advocacy — Volume 2014 Issue 1