Conciliation boards consist of lay volunteers. The power of the conciliation board rests in the disputing parties' voluntary acceptance of the board's authority. The board does not exercise any coercion or deterrence and does not impose sanctions. The task of conciliation boards is to influence the disputing parties such that they alter their attitudes and their feelings to facilitate compromise in settling the dispute. Conciliation boards are widely used by persons who view them as sufficiently authoritative to resolve conflicts through self-management. The boards have been notably successful among persons of the lower social strata who want an informal settlement of disputes without resort to formal coercion and sanctions. The legal regulation of conciliation boards, which were initially established in 1959, has institutionalized the work of these bodies. Although they operate under the leadership of the courts, attempts to subject them to existing rules of civil or penal procedure have not been successful. There are trends towards the professionalization of conciliation boards, but their lay character and their mandate of noncoercion undermines attempts at bureaucratization.