Answer ONE question from Section A and ONE question from Section B.

Answer ONE question from Section A and ONE question from Section B.
All questions are worth equal marks.
SECTION A
(Answer ONE question from this section)
1. “A class action procedure […] provides a potent means of achieving access to justice for consumers. But it is also capable of being misused. The ability to bring proceedings on behalf of what may be a very large class of persons without obtaining their active consent and to recover damages without the need to show individual loss presents risks of the kind already mentioned, as well as giving rise to substantial administrative burdens and litigation costs. The risk that the enormous leveraging effect which such a class action device creates may be used oppressively or unfairly is exacerbated by the opportunities that it provides for profit. As the Court of Appeal observed in the present case, ‘the power to bring collective proceedings … was obviously intended to facilitate a means of redress which could attract and be facilitated by litigation funding’: [2019] EWCA Civ 674; [2019] Bus LR 3025, para 60. Those who fund litigation are, for the most part, commercial investors whose dominant interest is naturally to make money on their investment from the fruits of the litigation.” (Mastercard Incorporated v Walter Hugh Merricks CBE [2020] UKSC 51, para 98.)
Critically discuss the benefits (if any) for the UK to facilitate access to justice for consumers in cross-border cases. In your response, engage with the UK Supreme Court’s judgment in Mastercard v Merricks.
OR
2. “We need to build on these initial foundations, to give a free-trading, global post-Brexit Britain one of the best competition and consumer regimes in the world, pushing us back into the top international rank once more so our businesses, exporters and investors can become more competitive, and thus more creative, successful, digital and agile too.
To achieve this, we will need a new Competition Act to update and modernise our institutions for the new digital economy. But many of the proposals in this report don’t need legislation and can be done faster, either through the existing system of once-a-Parliament Government policy directions to CMA and some of the sector regulators; or by changes to those regulators’ internal processes and governance; or by altering the web of Memorandums Of Understanding between them too. So we can, and should, begin to make changes and improve our international ranking immediately.” (John Penrose, Power to the people: stronger consumer choice and competition so markets work for people, not the other way around, p 13.)
Critically discuss this quotation and engage with the Penrose Report, considering the policy choices the UK should make to achieve its global post-Brexit Britain agenda. In your response, please integrate relevant statutes, case law and academic commentary.
SECTION B
(Answer ONE question from this section)
3. The members of the UK Independent Boarding Schools Association (UKIBSA) were education services providers, involving the leading independent schools in the UK.
On 3 May 2020, the UKIBSA assembled its member schools to discuss how to respond to the major challenges which the education providers were facing in a Covid context. Two major points were thoroughly discussed:
1) There were increased costs for the independent schools to become Covid compliant as well as an increased level of uncertainty on how much face-to-face teaching they would be able to offer in the years to come.
2) There was an increased demand for digital educational opportunities. It was felt that there was an opportunity for all independent schools to join forces and produce higher quality digital resources.
In order to respond to these challenges, the UKIBSA took the following collective decision, setting out the following action plan:
1) It was decided that the UKIBSA members were to cooperate with a view to producing higher quality digital materials. The produced digital materials were to be shared among the UKIBSA members.
2) It was agreed for all the members (i.e. independent schools) to exchange information about their tuition fees and costs of educational services they provide, in order to limit competition and maximise their profits.
The UK Parents Association lodged a complaint with the UKIBSA, submitting that all independent boarding schools have – on three occasions in the last 12 months – increased their tuition fees by 5% or 5.5% in total.
Advise UKIBSA on the legality of their decisions/practices. In your response, please consider issues of liability and exposure (if any) to fines and damages for breach of competition law.
OR
4. PHIDRA Plc is a pharmaceutical company based in Devon. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, PHIDRA Plc managed to successfully produce and get a formal approval from the competent authority to market the first and most effective antibiotic to cure COVID-19. PHIDRA Plc is now the major COVID-19 antibiotic manufacturer in the world.
ABMED Group and BOSTCH AG are its major competitors on the market for antibiotics worldwide.
PHIDRA Plc holds 75% of the global market for COVID-19 antibiotics.
Also, PHIDRA Plc holds 25% of the global market for antibiotics.
In order to expand its presence in the market for antibiotics, PHIDRA Plc has decided to provide its COVID-19 antibiotic to its distributors on the condition they also get all their antibiotic supplies from PHIDRA Plc.
Since PHIDRA’s policy has been implemented in January 2021, ABMED Group and BOSTCH AG have been seeing a gradual and steady decline in the demand for their products in the antibiotics market.
ABMED Group and BOSTCH AG filed a complaint with the UK Competition and Markets Authority, alleging that the conduct of PHIDRA Plc is anticompetitive.
Advise PHIDRA Plc on the legality of its conduct/practice. In your response, please consider issues of liability and exposure (if any) to fines and damages for breach of competition law.