On 12 October, the Commission announced that it had issued a decision fining Pacific Fruit €8.9 million for its involvement in an agreement with Chiquita to fix the prices of bananas in Southern Europe from July 2004 to April 2005. Chiquita gained immunity from fines under the leniency programme. Competition Commissioner Almunia commented:
"companies need to be aware that the Commission takes its anti-cartel enforcement duties very seriously. There are only two ways to avoid a fine: refrain from joining a cartel or, if you have fallen for it, repent rapidly and inform."
The Commission found that during the period from July 2004 to April 2005, Chiquita and Pacific Fruit had fixed weekly sales prices and exchanged price information in relation to the import of their respective brands into Italy, Greece and Portugal. With estimated sales of bananas in these countries at that time amounting to €525 million, the Commission treated this as a serious infringement.
This is the second banana cartel decision in recent years - in October 2008, the Commission fined Dole and Weichert €60 million for operating a price-fixing cartel in eight northern EU Member States from 2000 to 2002. Chiquita was also involved in the first cartel, but again received immunity from fines as it was the first to inform the Commission.
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