Art. 29 is the first of three Articles in Section 2 of Chapter III on Conciliation. Section 2 is entitled “Constitution of the Conciliation Commission”. Art. 29 is the basic provision on the constitution of a conciliation commission. Art. 30 deals with the appointment of conciliators by the Chairman in default of the parties. Art. 31 deals with the appointment of conciliators who are or are not designated to the Panel of Conciliators under Arts. 12–16. A comparison with the parallel Section 2 of the Convention's Chapter IV (Arbitration) reveals that the rules on the constitution of a conciliation commission do not contain a provision that corresponds to Art. 39 dealing with the nationality requirements for arbitrators (see para. 5 infra).

Art. 29 is substantively identical to Art. 37, its counterpart in the Chapter on Arbitration. The only difference is the substitution of “Conciliation Commission” and “Commission” for “Arbitral Tribunal” and “Tribunal” and “conciliator(s)” for “arbitrator(s)” as well as the reference to Art. 28 rather than to Art. 36.

The drafts to Art. 29 were almost identical to the parallel drafts to Art. 37 (History, Vol. I, pp. 146, 148, 176, 178). The debates on what became Art. 29 did not lead to any differentiations in the texts (History, Vol. II, pp. 78, 152/3, 262/3, 412, 782/3, 790).