SECTION 162

(1) The arbitration board shall not make and award on any matter except those set down in the statement of non-conciliation and those which have arisen out of events subsequent to the making of the said statement and are a direct consequence of the dispute. (2) The board shall give its award in law in disputes regarding the interpretation and application of laws, regulations, collective agreements and company agreements currently in force. (3) It shall give its award in equity in other disputes, particularly those relating to wages or to conditions of employment if the latter are not determined by legislative provisions, regulations, collective agreements or company agreements currently in force, and in disputes relating to the negotiations or revision of clauses or collective agreements. (4) The arbitration board shall have the wide powers to obtain information on the economic situation of the undertakings and on the situation of the workers concerned in the dispute. (5) It may make any necessary investigations of undertakings and trade unions and employers' associations and it may require the parties to produce any document or to provide any information, whether economic, accounting, financial, statistical or administrative, which may be useful to it in the performance of its duties. (6) It may have recourse to experts and, in general, to any person duly qualified and likely to be able to inform it.