A clause obliging the parties to resolve disputes relating to the contract, the instrument of incorporation or the regulations in which it is contained by means of an attempt at mediation or conciliation to be undertaken before court or arbitral proceedings may be brought does not constitute an arbitration clause, the minimum requirements for derogating from public adjudication not being met.
Conciliation clauses make the undertaking of the attempt a condition of the admissibility of the court or arbitral claim relating to the disputes covered.
An erroneous reference to the institution of arbitration and the improper characterisation as arbitrators of the persons called upon to make up the conciliation body do not prevent the judicial appointment of the third, impartial person, in the absence of agreement between the parties, where the clause entrusts that task to the President of the Court, the stipulation having to be construed so as to allow it to produce effects.