Governance

Compliance

KPI

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Item FY 2020 results FY 2021 results
Number of violations of laws and regulations related to the provision and use of products (Consolidated) 0 (Consolidated) 1

Basic Stance Towards Compliance

In order to respond effectively to the increase in risk that has accompanied globalization, in July 2017 the Yokohama Rubber Group Competition Law Compliance Policy and Yokohama Rubber Group Anti-corruption Policy were approved by the Board of Directors and came into effect. By announcing these new policies both in Japan and overseas, and by formulating rules and guidelines that embody the policies in concrete form and familiarizing stakeholders with them, we aim to prevent violations of competition law and criminal offences involving bribery.
By integrating these policies with our Global Whistleblower System, adoption of which began in February 2018, and implementing them in our subsidiaries throughout the world, we believe we can raise the overall level of compliance in the Yokohama Rubber Group to an even higher level.

Compliance (product liability)

Our mission is to achieve corporate prosperity and contribute to society by not only satisfying customers but also winning their confidence and securing an appropriate level of profits. In order to achieve this, we must continually provide quality products that customers around the world will feel secure in buying and that will satisfy customers. In accordance with the Yokohama Rubber Action Guidelines, "We shall listen to the views of our customers, accurately ascertain their needs, and develop, design, manufacture, and sell products of genuine use to society."

Compliance System

Yokohama Rubber has established a Corporate Compliance Committee with the Representative Director in charge of compliance as the Committee Chair and the Corporate Compliance Department as the implementation department. The Corporate Compliance Committee is held four times per year to continually implement various measures related to compliance at the Yokohama Rubber Group and report the state of these activities to the Board of Directors and Audit & Supervisory Board. The Corporate Philosophy and Action Guidelines of the Yokohama Rubber Group are made known and presented to Group companies, including overseas companies, to serve as the guidelines for the execution of duties by Directors and employees at each company. Every division in the Yokohama Rubber Group is assigned personnel who belong to the Corporate Compliance Department as well, to continue to share the progress of the activities in internal education and related information in the workplace. In our domestic and overseas group companies, we have appointed a compliance promotion manager to facilitate the development of the same level of activities in each company.

Compliance System (product liability)

In the event of any quality problems or complaints in the market related to products provided to customers, we will respond promptly in an attempt to resolve such problems and implement recurrence prevention activities. As part of recurrence prevention measures, we regularly conduct quality audits to confirm the implementation status of corrective action and verify its effectiveness.

Whistle-Blowing System (Corporate Compliance Hotline / General Counseling Room)

The Corporate Compliance Hotline refers to the system of accepting even anonymous whistle-blowing in accordance with the Whistleblower Protection Act. The telephone number and email address are stated on the Corporate Compliance Card that is distributed to all domestic Yokohama Rubber Group’s employees. There are two hotlines, an internal hotline and an external hotline. As the external hotline has been established at an external law firm, independence has been secured for this hotline. The General Counseling Room is the contact point which any members can utilize regarding any doubt or anxieties at work that are related to corporate compliance, and requires name registration as a general rule.In fiscal 2021, the total of the hotline and the General Consultation Room received 149 calls and consultations.
Yokohama Rubber has introduced a "Global Whistleblower System" at its overseas subsidiaries that allows the Yokohama Rubber Compliance Department to directly identify any violations of competition laws, bribery-related activities, and violations by local subsidiary executives through an external contact point. In February 2018, adoption of the new System began in China at the company responsible for overall supervision of our China-based operations and at our tire sales company in China.
By 2021, the introduction of the system in China, the Philippines, Thailand, North America, and Europe has been completed with the exception of some offices.
Beginning in 2022, we will begin studying the introduction of the system at our production facilities in Vietnam and Indonesia.
In Europe, our European headquarters signed a contract with a company that provides a whistleblowing system, and it implemented a joint whistleblowing system that it uses along with its eight subsidiaries. In addition to serving as a whistleblowing system for these nine companies, including the controlling company, the system also functions as a global whistleblowing system in which the Corporate Compliance Dept. directly receives reports from local employees depending on the content of the report.
This system has been in operation since January 2021.
In June 2021, MB's production and sales companies in Thailand received training on the introduction of the whistleblower system and began its operation.
In February 2022, the tire production company completed the training and started operation of the system, although it was delayed due to the COVID-19.
In China, two tire production companies started to operate the internal reporting system in September 2021.
In addition, an MB sales company and a conveyor belt manufacturing and sales company, for which training on the system was delayed due to the impact of COVID-19, completed the introduction and started operation in January 2022.

Whistle-Blowing System (Flow chart)

Thorough enforcement of compliance through monthly reports

162 Compliance Promotion Managers have been assigned to Group companies in Japan and overseas. We respond appropriately in coordination with the Corporate Compliance Department to issues that occur in various situations including the workplace and external transactions.
Each compliance officer sends a monthly report to the Corporate Compliance Department as part of efforts to enable an advance understanding of issues.
Manager of nine European distributors
Karin Rückwardt
(Yokohama Europe GmbH;YEU)
Manager of Japanese tire distributors
Tsutomu Ishijima
(Yokohama Tire Japan, YTJ)
Manager of Japanese industrial product distributors
Seiichi Endo
(Yokohama Rubber MB Japan, YMJ)
Being able to appropriately monitor the state of compliance at overseas subsidiaries is an important issue. By making effective use of the periodic reporting system that is already being implemented, and of the global whistle-blowing system that we have begun to adopt, we are approaching the stage where we will be able to effectively monitor compliance issues at each overseas business location.

Education and Awareness Raising Activities

Using internal compliance issues as themes, we offer both general compliance materials that we would like all employees to know about, as well as contents for specific departments and positions, with teaching methods that include the distribution of educational materials, group learning at work, and group education.
In 2021, in addition to continuing education on harassment and quality fraud, topics included handling of company equipment, giving and receiving parting gifts, thank-you gifts, etc., handling of personal information, and taking paid leave.

Anti-Corruption Initiatives

The Yokohama Rubber Group Code of Conduct declares the following;
  • We will not only comply with laws and regulations but also with social norms.
  • We will not engage in any act that violates competition laws, bribery, or any act that deviates from the law or business practices.
  • We will maintain sound relationships with political and administrative entities, both inside and outside the country, and will not engage in bribery.
  • We do not entertain, give gifts or give money to our business partners for the purpose of gaining unfair advantage.
It refers to actions against business partners as well as public officials.
The Anti-Bribery Policy also prohibits the act of bribery for the following "officers and employees of a private company subject to commercial bribery, and any other person who may be a guest of any bribery offense".
The global whistleblower system is designed to provide an external point of contact to prevent "bribery" as well as "competition law violations" from occurring as quickly as possible.
For this reason, we provide training to our overseas subsidiaries that are planning to introduce the system in advance.

Seminars conducted (FY 2021)

(Unit: persons)
Training opportunities Persons
Pre-departure orientation for overseas dispatch 32
Newly appointed organization management position training 58
Pre-introduction training for the whistle-blower system 21 (YRTC)
Antitrust compliance training 1,759
Grand total 1,870

YTRC compliance training

On June 18, 2021, an external law firm provided training on "Compliance with Competition Law and Prevention of Bribery and Corrupt Practices" at YRTC, an MB manufacturing company in Thailand, as a preliminary training for the introduction of a global internal reporting system.
Twenty-one supervisors who may be exposed to these risks in the course of their work participated in the training.

Privacy policy for employees

We strictly manage employees’ personal information by obtaining prior consent by quoting the purpose of its usage. We understand the importance of employees’ personal information and ensure its proper treatment; we also let our employees know, through our internal intranet, that we continue to take measures to protect their personal information.

Measures against violations

  • No sanctions against violations of the Anti-Monopoly Act have been imposed on our company.
  • No sanctions against fraudulent accounting practice, discrimination or misconduct in the workplace have been imposed on our company.
  • No sanctions against violations of environmental regulations have been imposed on our company.
  • No complaints have been lodged over loss of customers’ data.
  • There have been no violations of laws relating to the supply of products and services, or their usage.

Vision (attainment goal) / target

We shall work to improve quality performance and provide safe, secure, and high-quality products and services.
We aim for 100% conforming products, zero recalls in the market, and zero complaints in the market.

Measures for vision achievement

<Improvements to the quality assurance system from the customer’s perspective>
In order to improve the quality assurance system, we identify problems from the customer’s perspective through internal quality audits and work to improve the quality system in order to resolve such issues.
<Implementation of top-level quality diagnosis>
We believe that a high level of commitment by the President and top management towards quality improvement activities can help to improve motivation in the field and accelerate and strengthen further improvement activities. The top management therefore conducts a diagnosis of each plant and department as a top-level quality diagnosis every year at Yokohama Rubber.
<Ensuring safety throughout the product lifecycle>
So that customers can use safe and comfortable products, in the event of a defect that could cause an inconvenience for customers such as a product recall, we will promptly notify customers and rapidly respond.

Review of FY 2021 Activities

We made improvements in response to information regarding quality and complaints received from customers.
In FY2021, there was one recall in hose products supplied to automakers by a U.S. hose production and sales company.

Issues and Future Improvement Measures

To prevent quality frauds, we continue to strive for a work environment that is free from mistakes by creating programs that drive at the reasons for frauds through examples at other companies, and planning and implementing training for all employees in Japan and overseas including in affiliated companies. In addition, we are performing inspection and confirmation of work on whether rules are being followed, and making improvements as needed.