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The Commission thus referred to: — a fax of 28 January 2000, in which Mr A., an employee of Del Monte, asked Mr A. W. to provide him with an explanation of the difference between the ‘final price’ and the ‘expected price’ in these terms: ‘Further to our yesterday telephone conversation, I would like to state once more my disbelief where reading Interfrucht’s sales report for week 3. I need to receive a complete explanation of the difference between your final price of … and the “expected” price of … The fact that Interfrucht entered into a promotional campaign with some supermarkets, when the banana market was eventually recovering to its normal level – for the period – is absolutely staggering! What kind of commercial strategy is that? Also, it is about time that you realise that you are selling our fruit. You very well know that Del Monte participates at …% to the final results; how can you take such a decision – to enter into a promotion – without seeking approval from your partners? or at least informing them! To make matters worse, I talked on two distinct occasions with the person in charge in your company of the commercialisation of the bananas, to discuss about market conditions and prices. I was told that [Weichert] will keep its prices “very close” to the official price!!! … In any case, this is purely unacceptable. This matter will be on top of the agenda when we shall meet next week with Mr [E.] … We would like to inform you that if your sales performance does not improve – meaning to be more in line with the market – and to a comparable level to other Del Monte operators, Del Monte will take all necessary actions to protect its interests’ (recital 389 to the contested decision); — a fax of the same date from Mr A. W. in reply to Mr A., apologising to him for the misunderstanding that occurred during a telephone conversation between Mr A. and the Weichert employee, providing an explanation of Weichert’s financial results and ending with the remark: ‘[w]e are happy to have the possibility to explain personally the situation in our next week’s meeting’ (recital 389 to the contested decision and footnote 424); — an exchange of faxes on 6 April 2000 between Mr A. and Mr A. W., in which Mr A. refers to a report from Tuesday and requests full details of the difference between the actual price and the quotation price, and Mr A. W. states that ‘the reason for the relatively large gap between the official quotation and the actual price is that the increase from DEM 33 to DEM 35 could never be realised’, concludes from this that ‘[their] price range is between DEM 30.00 and DEM 33.00 less rebates’, and ends with the remark, ‘[a]ny questions, please call’ (recital 389 to the contested decision and footnote 424); — a fax from Del Monte to Weichert of 12 June 2000, in which Del Monte confirms its position, as explained during a meeting in Miami (United States) and a telephone conversation on the same day, stating clearly that prices had to be fixed within a given range according to the bananas’ geographical origin and that in any case those prices were not to be lower than a price also determined according to origin, and which includes the following statement: ‘If you cannot achieve these prices, our position, as clearly stated during our last week meeting in Miami, is to consequently reduce your banana volume to the level of Interfrucht’s own licences, i.e. +/- 60000 boxes per week. Please make sure to keep us informed, on a daily basis, of the outcome of your price negotiations with your customers’ (recital 390 to the contested decision); — a fax of 12 December 2000 from Mr A. to Mr A. W. stating: ‘Our intention is not to put Interfrucht out of business … We are only trying to mitigate our losses – Del Monte’s and Interfrucht’s – in a not too favourable market situation. Our message was clear and not ambiguous, if you are not able to sell at a range of US … during the first quarter, you will not be able to build up a small profit reserve to compensate for the low prices in the last two quarters of the year, it will mean that 2001 will be a disaster in terms of banana results. To conclude, the volume reduction is the only way to stop this downslide. …’ (recital 389 to the contested decision and footnote 424); — an email of 23 July 2002 from Del Monte’s regional internal auditor to Weichert asking why the prices of certain Weichert import lots per week in 2001 had been lower than those of Del Monte’s UTC-branded bananas sold in Holland by Del Monte Belgium, or lower than the Sopisco trade press had reported as being the lowest ‘actual’ price projected for certain weeks; and, moreover, whether it would be possible to see any contracts there may have been in 2001 providing for rebates or discounts for certain Weichert customers (recital 389 to the contested decision and footnote 424).