In Grupo Francisco Hernando Contreras, S.L. v Republic of Equatorial Guinea (ICSID Case No. ARB(AF)/12/2), a majority tribunal in a Spanish language ICSID Additional Facility arbitration brought under the Spain-Equatorial Guinea bilateral investment treaty (BIT), rejected jurisdiction over the claimant's claims on the basis that there was no investment. Professor Francisco Orrego Vicuna, nominated by the claimant, issued a dissenting opinion finding that the tribunal did have jurisdiction. A further dissent on costs was issued in November 2015 followed by an explanatory note issued by the tribunal at the same time.

On 12 February 2016, several organisations and individuals applied for leave to file amicus curiae submissions in Eli Lilly and Company v The Government of Canada (UNCITRAL, ICSID Case No. UNCT/14/2), including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

On 28 January 2016, the Supreme Court of India released a decision in the Bharat Aluminium Co v Kaiser Aluminium Technical Service (BALCO) dispute. The question before the court was whether the parties had agreed to exclude, expressly or impliedly, in whole or in part, Part I of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996. The Supreme Court observed that the terms of a contract, especially arbitration agreements, have to be understood in the way the parties wanted and intended them to be. Having reviewed the arbitration agreement in the present case, the court found that the law applicable to it was English law and therefore Part I of the Act was impliedly excluded. For background information on the landmark BALCO dispute, see Legal update, Uprooting Bhatia International: Part I of Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act does not apply to arbitration outside India).

The International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has announced measures aimed at increasing its presence in South Asia, including plans to open an office in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and the appointment of former ICC Deputy Counsel, Abhinav Bhushan, as Regional Director for South Asia.

The China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) has released 2015 statistics, reporting that it handled 1968 cases last year, which included 437 foreign-related cases. The statistics are only available in Chinese.

The Swiss Chambers' Arbitration Institution has released case statistics for 2012-2015. In 2015, 100 cases were submitted to the institution, six final awards were issued, and the most popular seat was Geneva.

On 11 February 2016, the Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill [HL] 2015-16 had its first reading at the House of Commons, although there was no debate on the Bill at this stage. The Bill proposes amendments to various statutes, including the Arbitration Act 1996, regarding the application of equality legislation to arbitration and mediation services. This Bill is expected to have its second reading debate on Friday 11 March 2016.

The Institute of Family Law Arbitrators is expected to expand the current family law arbitration scheme so that family law disputes concerning the exercise of parental responsibility and other private law issues about the welfare of children can be resolved by arbitration. The rules for the new Family Law Children Arbitration Scheme are being finalised. The new scheme is expected to be rolled out in July 2016.