Bridgestone sells tyres with unauthorized JIS mark

Tyre manufacturer Bridgestone Corp. has sold some 130,000 tyres printed with the Japan Industrial Standards (JIS) mark even though they were not authorized to do so, Japanese media reported. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) only allows industrial products to sell with the JIS title after they pass inspections from government officials. After agreeing with the Nagoya-based Inoue Rubber Co. to jointly manufacture tyres in 2000, Bridgestone reportedly invested in Inoue’s subsidiary in Thailand, IRCT, which began producing Bridgestone tyres in Thailand in August 2001.

At that time, IRCT officials applied to Japan’s trade ministry for authorization to make tyres under the JIS title through Thai authorities. But the application documents lacked some required information, so inspections of the IRCT Thai factory weren’t carried out, ministry sources said. An official of Japan’s Inoue Rubber visited IRCT in July this year to find that tyres produced there had not yet been authorized to sell with the JIS mark.

In response, Bridgestone stopped manufacturing tyres at IRCT’s factory in Thailand in August, and reported the case to the trade ministry. Ministry officials didn’t demand the recall of the tyres sold because industrial standard laws don’t require them to do so. Bridgestone was ordered to remove the JIS mark from tyres in stock. The tyre manufacturer reported the case to users on its website.

“We were proceeding with the project on the grounds that we would get permission to use the JIS mark. But we admit that we failed to confirm whether tyres involved were authorized by JIS inspections,” a Bridgestone official said. “We apologize to users.”