Irish banana supplier Fyffes has been exonerated in an EU banana cartel investigation that saw Dole and Weichert slapped with huge fines and Chiquita shamed.
The three guilty firms participated in a price fixing cartel during 2000-02, according to an announcement by the European Commission on Wednesday.
After a lengthy investigation, during which the offices of several banana importers were raided, the commission found the trio to be in violation of its ban on cartels and restrictive practices.
As whistle-blower, Chiquita was exempted from any fine, but Dole and Weichert were stung with penalties totalling €60.3 million (£46.9m) for their roles in the cartel. US-based Dole will be required to pay €45.6m.
The commission said in a statement that the fines on Dole and Weichert were reduced by 60 per cent in view of the circumstances of the case, including the specific regulatory regime for the banana market that was in place at the time. An additional reduction of 10 per cent was accorded to German firm Weichert, as it did not participate in a part of the cartel. Del Monte is held jointly and severally liable for the payment of a €14.7m fine, as it controlled Weichert at the time of the infringement.
Weichert has been a Fyffes jv company since 2003.
The commission’s investigation started in April 2005. It found that during the three-year period of operation of the cartel, importers of the leading brands of bananas into Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden set and then announced every Thursday morning their reference price for the next week.
On numerous occasions from 2000-2002, there were “bilateral phone calls among the companies”, the commission said, usually the day before the price was set. During these calls, the companies discussed or disclosed their pricing intentions.
In a further twist, any firm affected by the anti-competitive behaviour of this case could now bring the matter before the courts of the member states and seek and be awarded damages.
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