In Corporación Mexicana de Mantenimiento Integral S. de R.L. de C.V. v. Pemex-Exploración y Producción, (2d Cir. August 2, 2016), the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York affirmed the district court’s enforcement of an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award that had been annulled at the seat (Mexico). The court held that the district judge did not abuse his discretion when he confirmed an award of US$300 million and added US$106 million to the judgment because of Pemex’s wrongful collection of performance bonds. We will report further shortly.

In Sandquist v. Lebo Auto., Inc., 205 Cal. Rptr. 3d 359 (Cal. 2016), the California Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, held that no universal rule allocates the decision of whether an arbitration clause allows class arbitration to either arbitrators or courts. Rather, who decides is in the first instance a matter of agreement, with the parties' agreement subject to interpretation under state contract law.

The ad hoc division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 has already registered 11 procedures since its opening on 26 July 2016. In the first seven days since opening, the ad hoc division registered the same number of applications as for the total period of the 2012 Olympic Games.

A report published in July 2016 by The City UK, an organisation which "champions" UK based financial and related professional services has revealed that there were 4,738 international arbitrations in the UK in 2015 and 17, 878 domestic arbitrations.

In a move designed to increase transparency, the Milan Chamber of Commerce has started to disclose the names of arbitrators hearing cases since 1 January 2016. The list will be updated every four months and arbitrators may opt out of disclosure of their names. The Chamber is also now releasing decisions on arbitrator challenges.