Article 1
Application of the conciliation rule
a) This rule will be applied to the conciliation of disputes,
as long as the parties that try to reach a solution to their
dispute have agreed to apply the conciliation rule of the
Center.
b) Parties will be able to agree, at any time, the exclusion
or amendment of some rules.
c) If some of the rules do not agree with a provision by law
which parties can not repeal, that provision will prevail.
Article 2
Beginning of the Conciliation proceedings
a) The party that takes the initiative for the conciliation
sends in writing the other party, keeping a copy for the Center, an
invitation to the conciliation in accordance with this regulation,
as well as the current regulations, stating in brief the subject
matter of the dispute.
b) Conciliatory proceedings are undertaken when the other
party accepts the invitation to conciliation. If orally, it is
advisable to confirm in writing, keeping a copy for the
Center.
c) If the other party rejects the conciliation, no
conciliatory proceedings take place.
d) The party that begins the conciliation has the option to
consider a rejection to the invitation to conciliation, if they do
not receive an answer within the next thirty (30) days as of the
invitation date. If they decide to do so, they have to communicate
it to the other party and the Center.
Article 3
Number of conciliators
There is generally one conciliator, unless the parties agree
to have two or three conciliators. When there is more than one
conciliator, they have to act, as a rule, by common consent.
Article 4
Appointment of conciliators
a) Appointment of conciliators by the parties:
a.1) In the conciliatory proceedings with one conciliator,
parties try to reach an agreement as to who will be named as their
conciliator.
a.2) In the conciliatory proceedings with two or three
conciliators, each party appoints one conciliator. Parties try to
agree as to who will be named as the third conciliator. If
necessary, the two appointed conciliators appoint the third.
b) Parties can ask for assistance to the Court of Arbitration
or General Secretary's Office of the Center concerning the
appointment of conciliators according to the following
clauses:
b.1) A party can ask the Court or General Secretary's Office
to recommend suitable people who might act as conciliators.
b.2) Parties can come to an agreement concerning whether the
appointment of one or more conciliators is carried out by the Court
of Arbitration or the General Secretary's Office.
Article 5
Submission of documents to the conciliator
a) The conciliator, after being appointed, asks each party to
submit a brief exposition in writing describing the general nature
of the dispute and terms thereof. Each party sends the other a copy
of this exposition and a copy for the Center.
b) The conciliator can ask the other party for an additional
exposition in writing, concerning its own exposition and facts and
reasons that support it, enclosing documents and evidence that each
party considers to be suitable.
c) The conciliator can, at any stage in the conciliatory
proceedings, ask one of the parties for the submission of other
suitable documents.
Article 6
Representation and counseling
Parties may be represented by representatives of their choice.
Names and addresses of such people must be reported in writing to
the Center, the other party and the conciliator. This report must
state precisely if the appointment consists of whether
representatives or counselors.
Article 7
Duties of the Conciliator
a) The conciliator help parties in an independent and
impartial manner making every effort to reach a friendly agreement
to the dispute.
b) The conciliator is subject to principles such as
objectivity, equity and justice, taking into account the rights and
duties of the parties, the uses of the mercantile trade dealt and
the circumstances at the controversy, even any practice established
between the parties.
c) The conciliator may conduct the conciliatory proceeding the
way he considers adequate, taking into account the circumstances,
parties' will, including the request by one of them to have the
conciliator listen to oral reports, and the need to reach a quick
agreement on the a transaction of the controversy.
d) The conciliator may, at any stage in the conciliatory
proceedings, propose to negotiate the dispute. It is not necessary
to make these proposals in writing or apply their basis.
Article 8
Administrative Counseling
In order to enhance the conciliatory process, the parties and
conciliator have at their disposal the administrative services of
the Center.
Article 9
Communication between conciliator and parties
a) The conciliator may invite the parties to meet him or
communicate with one another either verbally or in writing. He may
meet or communicate with the parties either separately or
together.
b) The conciliation hearings take place in the Center site.
Hearings are carried out in the agreed place without exceptions and
according to previous agreement between the parties and
conciliators.
Article 10
Disclosure and transfer of information
If the conciliator receives information from one of the
parties concerning the dispute, he must disclose and transmit its
contents to the other party so as keep the other party properly
informed. However, if a party gives information to the conciliator
under the condition that it be kept confidential, the conciliator
must not disclose or transmit this information.
Article 11
Parties cooperation with the conciliator
Parties will cooperate in good faith with the conciliator and,
especially, make every effort to fulfill his requests to submit
written documents, bring evidence and attend meetings.
Article 12
Parties suggestions to propitiate the conciliation
Each party, on their own initiative, or invited by the
conciliator, may submit suggestions to him to propitiate the
conciliation through transaction formulae to finish the
controversy.
Article 13
Transaction Agreement
a) If the conciliator considers there are elements for a
transaction acceptable by the parties, he may formulate the terms
of a transaction project and submit them to the parties, so that
they can express their observations. In view of these observations,
the conciliator may formulate other possible transaction
terms.
b) If parties come to an agreement concerning the controversy
transaction, they will draw up and sign a written transaction
agreement. If parties request so, the conciliator shall draw up the
transaction agreement or help the parties to do it. In the
transaction agreement, parties will include an arbitrational clause
through which they submit to the Center the solution to any
conflict arisen from the agreement.
c) Parties finish a dispute when they sign the transaction
agreement and stay obliged to fulfill such agreement. If it is
suitable and parties agree, the transaction agreement will be
subject to Article 20 of the legal Regulation for national
arbitration.
Article 14
Confidentiality
The conciliator and parties will keep confidential all matters
related to the conciliatory proceedings. Confidentiality is also
applicable to transaction agreements, unless their disclosure is
needed for execution and fulfillment.
Article 15
Conclusion of the conciliatory proceedings
The conciliatory proceedings shall conclude:
a) If the parties sign a transaction agreement, without
prejudice of Article 13, Clause c).- of this Regulation.
b) If the conciliator makes a statement in writing after
consulting the parties concerning that further efforts of
conciliation might not be justified.
c) If the parties make a statement in writing addressed to the
conciliator concerning that the conciliatory proceedings are
finished the very day they make such statement.
d) If one of the parties addresses a written notice to the
other party, the conciliator, and the Center, if designated,
concerning that the conciliatory proceedings are finished.
e) The fact that the conciliation is not concluded determines
the immediate application of the Center arbitration regulations,
understanding that parties subject themselves clearly and
unconditionally to the regulations above mentioned, and accepting
that the corresponding award is definitive and unappealable.
Article 16
Appeal for arbitrational proceedings
Parties commit not to begin, during the conciliatory
proceedings, any arbitrational proceeding related to a controversy
originating the conciliatory proceedings; but a party may begin an
arbitrational proceeding as long as it considers such proceeding as
necessary to preserve its rights.
Article 17
Conciliation expenses
a) When the conciliatory proceedings are finished, the Center
General Secretary's Office liquidates expenses generated by the
conciliation and notifies them in writing to the parties. The word
"expenses" comprises:
a.1) The conciliator's fees, according to the Fee Table and
fee regulations of the Center.
a.2) Travel expenses and other conciliator's expenses, if they
might come out.
a.3) Travel expenses and expenses of any witness who had been
called by the conciliator with the parties' consent.
a.4) The cost of any expert counseling requested by the
conciliator with the parties' consent.
a.5) Administrative expenses that the organization of the
conciliation may cause to the Center, according to the Fee Table
and the corresponding fee regulations.
b) Expenses indicated in the above paragraph should be divided
between the parties, unless the transaction agreement states
something different. All expenses incurred by a party are on their
own account.
Article 18
Payments in advance
a) The General Secretary's Office will endeavor to make the
conciliator, once appointed, get from each party a sum as a payment
in advance for his corresponding fees. To carry this out, he will
practice a partial settlement giving notice to the parties.
b) The same above mentioned criterion is applied to other
different expenses of the conciliatory proceedings, which are
foreseeable at the moment the proceedings are begun.
c) If the sum in advance required according to clauses a and b
of this article had not been paid by either party within a
thirty-day term, the conciliator may adjourn the proceedings and
submit a written conclusion statement to the parties, which goes
into force immediately.
d) Once conciliation proceedings are concluded, the
conciliator collects the corresponding balance due, unless
circumstances determine some balance in hand for the parties.
Article 19
Duty of the conciliator in other proceedings
Parties and conciliator agree that the conciliator may not act
as an arbitrator, representative or counselor of neither party in
any arbitrational or judicial proceeding related to a controversy
which might have been subject matter of a conciliatory proceeding.
Parties also agree not to summon the conciliator to be a witness in
none of such proceedings.
Article 20
Admissibility of evidence to other proceedings
Parties agree not to invoke or propose as evidence in an
arbitrational or judicial proceeding, whether related or not to the
controversy subject of the conciliatory proceeding:
a) Opinions expressed or suggestions formulated by the party
in regard to a possible solution to the controversy.
b) Facts which the other party had known about in the course
of the conciliatory proceedings.
c) Proposals made by the conciliator.
d) The fact that the other party had indicated to be ready to
accept a proposal to solution formulated by the conciliator.