11 DE SETEMBRO DE 1998

1772-(15)

Article 23 Conciliation procedure

1 — The conciliation proceedings shall be confidential and all parties to the dispute shall have the right to be heard. Subject to the provisions of articles 10 and 11 and the Rules of the Court, the conciliation commission shall, after consultation with the parties to the dispute, determine the procedure.

2 — If the parties to the dispute agree thereon, the conciliation commission may invite any State party to this Convention which has an interest in the settlement of the dispute to participate in the proceedings.

Article 24 Objective of conciliation

The conciliation commission shall assist the parties to the dispute in finding a settlement in accordance with international law and their CSCE commitments.

Article 25 Result of the conciliation

1 — If, during the proceedings, the parties to the dispute, with the help of the conciliation commission, reach a mutually acceptable settlement, they shall record the terms of this settlement in a summary of conclusions signed by their representatives and by the members of the commission. The signing of the document shall conclude the proceedings. The CSCE Council shall be informed through the Committee of Senior Officials of the success of the conciliation.

2 — When the conciliation commission considers that all the aspects of the dispute and all the possibilities of finding a solution have been explored, it shall draw up a final report. The report shall contain the proposals of the commission for the peaceful settlement of the dispute.

3 — The report of the conciliation commission shall be notified to the parties to the dispute, which shall have a period of thirty days in which to examine it and inform the chairman of the commission whether they are willing to accept the proposed settlement.

4 — If a party to the dispute does not accept the proposed settlement, the other party or parties are no longer bound by their own acceptance thereof.

5 — If, within the period prescribed in paragraph 3, the parties to the dispute have not accepted the proposed settlement, the report shall be forwarded to the CSCE Council through the Committee of Senior Officials.

6 — A report shall also be drawn up which provides immediate notification to the CSCE Council through the Committee of Senior Officials of circumstances where a party fails to appear for conciliation or leaves a procedure after it has begun.

CHAPTER IV Arbitration

Article 26

Request for the constitution of an arbitral tribunal

1 — A request for arbitration may be made at any time by agreement between two or more States parties

to this Convention or between one or more States parties to this Convention and one or more other CSCE participating States.

2 — The States parties to this Convention may at any time by a notice addressed to the depositary declare that they recognize as compulsory, ipso facto and without special agreement, the jurisdiction of an arbitral tribunal, subject to reciprocity. Such a declaration may be made for an unlimited period or for a specified time. It may cover all disputes or exclude disputes concerning a State's territorial integrity, national defence, title to sovereignty over land territory, or competing claims with regard to jurisdiction over other areas.

3 — A request for arbitration against a State party to this Convention which has made the declaration specified in paragraph 2 may be made by means of an application to the registrar only after a period of thirty days after the report of the conciliation commission which has dealt with the dispute has been transmitted to the CSCE Council in accordance with the provisions of article 25, paragraph 5.

4 — When a dispute is submitted to an arbitral tribunal in accordance with this article, the tribunal may, on its own authority or at the request of one or all of the parties to the dispute, indicate interim measures that ought to be taken by the parties to the dispute to avoid an aggravation of the dispute, greater difficulty in reaching a solution, or the possibility of a future award of the tribunal becoming unenforceable owing to the conduct of one or more of the parties to the dispute.

Article 27

Cases brought before an arbitral tribunal

1 — If a request for arbitration is made by means of an agreement, it shall indicate the subject of the dispute. If there is no agreement, in whole or in part, concerning the subject of the dispute, each party thereto may formulate its own position in respect of such subject.

2—If a request for arbitration is made by means of an application, it shall indicate the subject of the dispute, the States party or parties to this Convention against which it is directed, and the main elements of fact and law on which it is grounded. As soon as the application is received, the registrar shall notify the other States party or parties mentioned in the application.

Article 28 Constitution of the arbitral tribunal

1 — When a request for arbitration is submitted, an arbitral tribunal shall be constituted.

2 — The arbitrators appointed by the parties to the dispute in accordance with article 4 are ex officio members of the tribunal. When more than.two States are parties to the same dispute, the States asserting the same interest may agree to appoint one single arbitrator.

3 — The Bureau shall appoint, from among the arbitrators, a number of members to sit on the tribunal so that the members appointed by the Bureau total at least one more than the ex officio members. Members of the Bureau and their alternates, who are on the list of arbitrators, shall be eligible for appointment to the tribunal.

4 — If an ex officio member is unable to attend or has previously taken part in any capacity in the hearings