Brussels, 17/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 17 December, the European Commission confirmed it had sent a statement of objections to a number of companies active in the import and marketing of bananas, concerning their alleged participation in a cartel. This followed a number of surprise inspections carried out in southern Europe in November 2007. As is its wont, the Commission did not specify which companies had been inspected. The companies in question may defend themselves by responding in writing to the objections raised by the Commission and, if they so wish, call for a hearing to be organised. In October 2008, the Commission had already imposed a collective fine of €60.3 million on the American and German banana importers, Dole and Weichert, for entering into a cartel with the American firm Chiquita. The latter had not been fined as it had cooperated with the Commission within the framework of a clemency programme. Members of this cartel had agreed on the price of bananas between 2000 and 2002 in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden. (O.L./transl.jl)