What is the Data Protection Moot Court about?

The Data Protection Moot Court (DPMC) is a competition of students or recent graduates (the “Participants”) in a fictional procedure before a supervisory authority within the meaning of Articles 4(21) and 51 of REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (“GDPR”).

The DPMC aims to cultivate interest on data protection law in students and recent graduates, serving as an educational tool in the form of a competition and to challenge them to engage in research of legal standards, to develop arguments and to articulate legal reasoning in their assigned roles.

The DPMC focuses on European Union Data Protection law – first and foremost the GDPR, but possibly also the e-Privacy Directive and other legal acts within the European framework on data protection.

Participants form teams of three and either represent a data subject lodging a complaint with a fictional supervisory authority or a data controller, defending the processing activities. After exchanging legal submissions, the teams will try their cases before a Jury of three in an oral hearing).

Teams are supported by coaches, who are professionals in data protection law and guide them through the phases of the competition.