RULES OF PROCEDURE

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

MOOT COURT COMPETITION

INDIA NATIONAL ROUNDS 2021

Please note: These rules apply to the Oral Rounds of the International Criminal Court
(“ICC”) Moot Court Competition – India National Rounds 2021. They are for the most
part identical to those for the International Final Round held in The Hague. While we
endeavour to synchronize our rules with those for the International Finals, there may, in
some cases, be slight variations between the two. For the purposes of the India National
Rounds, National Law University, Delhi and its Organisers shall be the final arbiters of
these rules. Should a conflict in the rules exist and should it potentially impact the
competition, the same should be brought to the Organisers’ attention and they will work
directly with the International Organisers to eliminate any such discrepancy.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: GENERAL RULES 1

ARTICLE 1 – OBJECT 1
ARTICLE 2 – SUBJECT 1
ARTICLE 3 – INTERPRETATION OF THE RULES 1
ARTICLE 4 – TEAM IDENTIFICATION 1

CHAPTER 2: COMPETITION STRUCTURE 2

ARTICLE 5 – TIMELINE 2
ARTICLE 6 – PRELIMINARY ROUNDS 2
ARTICLE 7 – ADVANCED ROUNDS 3
ARTICLE 8 – FINAL ROUND 3

CHAPTER 3: ORAL ROUND PROVISIONS 4

ARTICLE 9 – CONTENT 4
ARTICLE 10 – APPEARANCE 4
ARTICLE 11 – SPEAKERS 5
ARTICLE 12 – ORDER OF APPEARANCE AND SPEAKING TIME 5
ARTICLE 13 – COMMUNICATION 6
ARTICLE 14 – RAISING OBJECTIONS 6
ARTICLE 15 – SCORES OF ORAL PLEADING 6
ARTICLE 16 – PENALTIES FOR INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR 7
ARTICLE 17 – RECORDING OF THE HEARING 7
ARTICLE 18 – SCOUTING 7

CHAPTER 4: THE AWARDS 8

ARTICLE 19 – CATEGORIES OF THE AWARD 8

CHAPTER 5: NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY 8

ARTICLE 20 – POLICY STATEMENT 8

ARTICLE 21 – PROHIBITED CONDUCT 8
ARTICLE 22 – SCOPE AND APPLICABILITY OF POLICY 9
 ARTICLE 23 – PENALTY FOR PROHIBITED CONDUCT 9

CHAPTER 6: CONTACT DETAILS 10

ARTICLE 24 – CONTACT DETAILS 10

CHAPTER 1: GENERAL RULES

Article 1 – Object

a. The present rules (“Rules”) govern the Oral Rounds of the International Criminal Court
(“ICC”) Moot Court Competition – India National Rounds 2021 (hereinafter “the
Competition”), to be held in the English language, and organised by the National Law
University, Delhi (hereinafter “the Organisation”).
b. The Competition shall be conducted virtually. However, the Organisation reserves the
right to conduct a memorial qualifier in place of online rounds, if circumstances so
require.

Article 2 – Subject

a. All teams participating in the Competition are presumed to have knowledge of, and shall
be subject to, these Rules.

Article 3 – Interpretation of the Rules

a. The Organisation has the authority to interpret and amend the provisions contained in
the Rules.
b. The Organisation reserves the right to make changes when necessary. Any changes made
will be communicated to the participating teams through the official e-mail ID
(iccmoot@nludelhi.ac.in).

Article 4 – Team Identification

a. In the interest of fairness and objectivity, each team has been assigned an anonymous
number. Teams must not reveal the identity of their institutions to the judges at any time
during the competition.
b. This number becomes the team’s identifier throughout the Competition.

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 c. The Organisation may disqualify or impose a penalty on any team that intentionally or
inadvertently discloses its school/university to a judge during the competition.

CHAPTER 2: COMPETITION STRUCTURE

Article 5 – Timeline

a. The Oral Rounds shall be conducted virtually on 23-25 April 2021.

b. The Preliminary Rounds shall be held on 23 April (Friday) and 24 April (Saturday).
c. The Advanced Rounds and the Finals shall be held on 25 April (Sunday).

Article 6 – Preliminary Rounds

a. The India National Round of the Competition shall have two (2) consecutive phases,
each independently graded: a written round (Memorials) and an oral round (Hearings).
b. Each team shall address the Case in three (3) roles, one as the Defense Counsel, one as
the Counsel for the Prosecution, and one as the Legal Representative for the
Government (Government Counsel). There shall be one memorial for each role.
c. Each team shall participate in three (3) oral rounds before the Bench, in the roles of
Defense Counsel, Counsel for the Prosecution, and Government Counsel. There shall be
one round for each role.
d. The Organisation reserves the right to increase the number of preliminary rounds. Any
change in the number of oral rounds shall be intimated to the team in advance.
e. The Memorials and Oral Pleadings shall reflect a deep knowledge of the ICC rules and
case law, as well as of International Criminal Law in general.
f. The written and oral phases of the Preliminary Rounds are independently assessed. The
sum of the scores obtained in both phases after the deduction of any penalty points will
qualify the fifteen (15) best teams for the five (5) Advanced Rounds. Both phases, the
written and oral rounds, count for 50% of the total score each. If two or more teams
rank number 15, the team with the highest total score in the oral phase of the Preliminary
Rounds will proceed to the Advanced Rounds.

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Article 7 – Advanced Rounds

a. The Advanced Round will consist of an oral phase only. The teams are free to choose
which of their three speakers will represent their team at the Advanced Round. They are
not bound by the role the speakers represented in the Preliminary Rounds.
b. The result of the written Memorials and the result of the Hearings of the Preliminary
Rounds will not be taken into account in assessing the final scores of the Advanced
Round. The Bench will assess only the substance of the arguments and the quality of the
performance of the teams in the Advanced Round.
c. Advanced Rounds’ matchups will be predetermined by the order of the advancing teams
in the Preliminary Rounds ranking.
i. Advanced Round A Matchup: 1, 10, 15th place teams.
ii. Advanced Round B Matchup: 2, 9, 14th place teams.
iii. Advanced Round C Matchup: 3, 8, 13th place teams.
iv. Advanced Round D Matchup: 4, 7, 12th place teams.
v. Advanced Round E Matchup: 5, 6, 11th place teams.
d. To decide who will be playing which role, the Organisation will use a Random Role
Generator application in the presence of designated team members of the qualifying
teams.
e. The winning team of each Advanced Round is the highest scoring team of the Advanced
Round that team participated in, regardless of scores in other rounds. If two or more
teams are tied, the Bench Members will decide by majority vote which team will advance
to the International Rounds.
f. The winning team from each Advanced Round shall be eligible to proceed to the
International Rounds.

Article 8 – Final Round

a. The teams proceeding to the Final Round will be the three highest scoring teams from
amongst the five teams qualifying to the International Rounds.

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 b. The teams are free to choose which of their three speakers will represent their team at
the Final Round. They are not bound by the role the speakers represented in the
Preliminary Rounds or Advanced Round.
c. To decide who will be playing which role, the Organisation will use a Random Role
Generator application in the presence of designated team members of the qualifying
teams.
d. The winning team is the highest scoring team of the Final Round that team participated
in, regardless of scores in other rounds. If two or more teams are tied, the Bench
Members will decide by majority vote which team will be the winner of the competition.
The team winning the Final Round will be the winner of the Competition, regardless of
the scoring of the Memorials and the results of the team in the Preliminary Rounds and
Advanced Round.

CHAPTER 3: ORAL ROUND PROVISIONS

Article 9 – Content

a. Each team’s oral pleadings must demonstrate an outstanding knowledge of the ICC
Rules and case law, as well as of the applicable international criminal law principles.
b. The Hearings will have a maximum length of two (2) hours per session and shall
reflect familiarity with ICC proceedings.

Article 10 – Appearance

a. Each team scheduled to appear shall have a maximum of fifteen (15) minutes from the
start of the scheduled time to appear before the bench.
b. The Competition will proceed on an ex parte basis at the expiration of the fifteen (15)
minutes. The Organisation may decide to delay the start of the proceedings, or
reschedule the session, in exceptional circumstances.

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Article 11 – Speakers

a. Each team will have three (3) individual Speakers. Every individual Speaker of a team will
represent in their pleadings the Defense Counsel, or the Counsel for the Prosecution or
the Government Counsel. The rebuttal must be presented by the same speaker as the
main presentation. Researchers are not allowed to present at any stage of the
Competition.
b. Each team must submit the role allocation within the team by 17th April 2021. The
Organisers shall be circulating a form to collect the same.
c. Only two members of each team, two Speakers, or one Speaker and one Researcher, are
allowed to be present before the Bench.
d. Each Speaker will present in accordance with the time allocated under Article 12.
e. Verbatim reading of the Memorials during the Hearings is strictly prohibited.

Article 12 – Order of Appearance and Speaking Time

a. The Order of the pleadings in each Hearing is:

i. Presentation by Defense Counsel: 20 minutes.
ii. Presentation by Counsel for the Prosecution: 20 minutes.
iii. Presentation by Government Counsel: 20 minutes.
iv. Rebuttal by Defense Counsel: up to 10 minutes.
v. Rebuttal by Counsel for the Prosecution: up to 10 minutes.
vi. Rebuttal by Government Counsel: up to 10 minutes.
b. Questions posed by the Bench Members are included in the Speaking Time of the
Presentation and Rebuttal, respectively.
c. Time not used in the main pleading may not extend the time allocated to the rebuttal.
d. The Speakers are not allowed to introduce new issues in their rebuttal.
e. All arguments and issues raised by opposing counsels during both presentation and
rebuttal may be discussed in the rebuttal.

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Article 13 – Communication

a. Communication between the speakers and the coaches or team members not presenting,
is strictly prohibited during the Hearings, save to give technical assistance with any
equipment being used to participate in the Hearings.
b. Only those present before the bench are permitted to communicate with each other, as
long as they do not hinder the person presenting at that moment. Communication
between co-counsels is not allowed during the team’s own presentation, save to give
technical assistance with any equipment being used to participate in the Hearings.
c. Violations of this article are sanctioned with 20 points. It is up to the discretion of the
Bench Members, taking into account the seriousness and consequences of the violation,
as to how many penalty points (with a maximum of 20 points) are to be deducted.

Article 14 – Raising Objections

Objections are not allowed under any circumstances at any moment during the proceedings.

Article 15 – Scores of Oral Pleading

a. Scores are rewarded out of a maximum of 100 points for the overall performance of the
team during each pleading. The presentation and the rebuttal shall be awarded with one
score only.
b. Points are allocated as follows:
i. Organisation, structure and time management: max 20 points.
ii. Knowledge and use of rules and principles of law: max 20 points.
iii. Knowledge and use of the facts: max 20 points.
iv. Questions and rebuttal: max 20 points.
v. Persuasiveness and style of presentation: max 20 points.
c. Score sheets shall be emailed to each team upon the completion of the Competition.

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Article 16 – Penalties for Inappropriate behaviour

a. Every team should maintain the fullest dignity and decorum not only inside the
Courtroom, but also throughout the entire Competition.
b. Inappropriate behaviour or blatant disregard for the procedures may result in deduction
of penalty points and in extreme cases to the disqualification of the team.

Article 17 – Recording of the Hearing

a. Members of the presenting team, may (voice) record their own team members during
their presentation and/or rebuttal. However, it is strictly forbidden to (voice) record the
opposing teams during their presentation and/or rebuttal.
b. Recording of the pleadings may only take place upon prior approval from the judges,
opposing teams and the Organisation.
c. Violations of this article are sanctioned with 50 penalty points.

Article 18 – Scouting

a. Scouting is forbidden at all times during the Competition.

b. Scouting is defined as:
i) when a team or one or more of its members attend a Hearing in which they
are not participants;
ii) Instances where students, coaches or spectators discuss with or pose
questions of substantive issues of international (criminal) law to the Bench
Members.
c. Violations of this article will result in disqualification. A team’s disqualification is final
and irrevocable

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CHAPTER 4: THE AWARDS

Article 19 – Categories of the Award

a. The following awards will be given by the Organisers after the Final Round:
i) Winner;
ii) First Runner-up;
iii) Second Runner-up
iv) Best Speaker (on the basis of performance in the Preliminary Rounds)
v) Best Memorial Overall.
b. Upon the completion of the entire program, each participant shall receive a certificate of
participation.

CHAPTER 5: NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY

Article 20 – Policy Statement

The Organisation recognises that discrimination and/or harassment undermines the integrity of
the Competition and the members involved in the Competition. The Organisation affirms its
commitment to ensure that each member of the Competition, including Participants, Volunteers
and Organisers, and Judges shall be permitted to participate and work in an environment free
from any form of illegal discrimination based on national origin, race, colour, religion, caste,
disability, sex (including sexual misconduct), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression,
and/or marital status. The Organisation recognises its obligation to work towards an
environment where diversity is valued and opportunity is equalized.

Article 21 – Prohibited Conduct

a. Prohibited Conduct is defined as any misconduct based on any form of Discrimination

or Harassment based on the criteria mentioned in Article 20. Misconduct can be verbal,
written or physical conduct that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion towards an

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 individual because of characteristics related to a ground of discrimination. It includes,
and is not restricted to, making jokes, epithets, innuendos, singling out a person for
humiliation, negative stereotyping, and making comments on characteristics related to a
ground of discrimination.
b. Sexual or Gender-based Discrimination is defined as per clause (k) of Section 2 of the
University Grants Commission (Prevention, prohibition and redressal of sexual
harassment of women employees and students in higher educational institutions)
Regulations, 2015.
c. The Organisation encourages all members involved in the Competition to take
reasonable and prudent actions to prevent or stop any such prohibited conduct. Taking
action may include direct intervention when safe to do so, enlisting the assistance of
friends, or seeking assistance from a person in authority. It is the particular responsibility
of those members involved in the Competition who hold positions of authority over
others to avoid actions that are or can be considered, a violation of this Policy or as
unprofessional.

Article 22 – Scope and Applicability of Policy

a. This Policy applies to all members involved in the Competition, including all Participants,
Coaches, Judges, Volunteers and members of the Organising Committee.

Article 23 – Penalty for Prohibited Conduct

The Organisation reserves the right to take prudent action against any member partaking in such
Prohibited Conduct, including imposition of penalties, and in severe cases, disqualification (in
case of Participants) or blacklisting from future editions of the Competition.

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CHAPTER 6: CONTACT DETAILS

Article 24 – Contact Details

a. The Organisers of the Competition may be contacted via the official email ID
(iccmoot@nludelhi.ac.in).
b. The Organisers of the Competition will not respond to any queries regarding the
Competition raised through any other means (including calls, texts, whatsapp messages).
c. Closer to the date of the Oral Rounds, the Organisers shall be creating a group on the
messaging app Signal and one representative from each team shall be required to join the
group – this is for easy and quick communication between the Organisers and the Teams
during the Oral Rounds.

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