Rotten Company

Kobe Steel, Ltd.

Approved Evidence

Added to Rotten Company: 9/1/2026
Conduct/Event period: September 2016–September 2017
Ongoing: No
Resolution status: Resolved
Resolution date: March 2019
misconduct

Kobe Steel was convicted and fined ¥100 million over product-quality data falsification

Summary

Kobe Steel, Ltd. disclosed that group misconduct included falsifying or fabricating inspection data for products that failed public standards or customer specifications and shipping them as conforming products. The company was convicted in March 2019 of violating Japan's Unfair Competition Prevention Act, fined ¥100 million, and reported that the judgment became final. Direct company disclosure: https://www.kobelco.co.jp/english/ir/meeting/pdf/166_all.pdf

Evidence Weight
97.47
Severity: high
Recency Weight: 97.4741762229135
File Weight: 1