1. The Departmental Advisory Committee (DAC) is reconsidering the three ‘special categories’ under the Arbitration Act 1979 with a view to advising the Secretary of State under its standing terms of reference on the reform of the law of English arbitration. This memorandum is intended to invite a response from arbitration users in England and particularly overseas on whether and to what extent any changes to these Special Categories are desirable. To that end the reader is requested to complete and return the attached questionnaire to the DAC at the address indicated below, together with any other representations.1 2. The Present Law : Section 3 of the 1979 Act recognises the contractual freedom of parties under non-domestic arbitration agreements at any time to exclude appeals on questions of English law to the High Court under Sections 1 and 2 of the 1979 Act; e.g. by exclusion agreements under Article 24(2) of the ICC Rules or Article 16.8 of the LCIA Rules.2 That contractual freedom is qualified by section 4(1) of the 1979 Act, whereby an exclusion agreement made before the commencement of the arbitration shall have no effect if the question of English law arising under the Award or in the course of the reference relates to any of the three Special Categories; namely; 1. a question or claim falling within the Admiralty jurisdiction of the High Court, or 2. a dispute arising out of a contract of insurance, or 3. a dispute arising out of a commodity contract, as defined by the Arbitration (Commodity Contracts) Order 1979 (SI 1979 No. 754). By Section 4(3) of the 1979 Act, the Secretary of State may either limit or remove these Special Categories by statutory instrument (i.e. not by amendment to the 1979 Act or by other primary legislation).3 3. The Pragmatic …