diff --git a/tests/cobol85/ChangeLog b/tests/cobol85/ChangeLog
index 15a992508..bc947d6f5 100644
--- a/tests/cobol85/ChangeLog
+++ b/tests/cobol85/ChangeLog
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 
+2024-08-27  Nicolas Berthier <nicolas.berthier@ocamlpro.com>
+
+	* Makefile.am: stop downloading "newcob.val.Z" from out-dated URL
+
 2023-06-02  Simon Sobisch <simonsobisch@gnu.org>
 
 	* report.pl: place stderr from test runs into .out file
diff --git a/tests/cobol85/Makefile.am b/tests/cobol85/Makefile.am
index 4064532d0..c37231809 100644
--- a/tests/cobol85/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/cobol85/Makefile.am
@@ -168,11 +168,13 @@ diff-summary:
 	@diff $(DIFF_FLAGS) "$(srcdir)/$(SUMMARY)" "summary.log"
 	@echo Done
 
-newcob.val.Z:
-	@echo "Trying to download newcob.val.Z..."
-	@(which curl 1>/dev/null && curl $(CURL_FLAGS) "$(URL_NEWCOB_Z)" -o $@) || \
-	 wget $(WGET_FLAGS) "$(URL_NEWCOB_Z)" || \
-	 ($(RM) $@; echo "Downloading $@ failed"; false)
+# Note: $(URL_NEWCOB_Z) is out-dated and simply grabs an HTML file
+# without error.
+# newcob.val.Z:
+# 	@echo "Trying to download newcob.val.Z..."
+#	@(which curl 1>/dev/null && curl $(CURL_FLAGS) "$(URL_NEWCOB_Z)" -o $@) || \
+#	 wget $(WGET_FLAGS) "$(URL_NEWCOB_Z)" || \
+#	 ($(RM) $@; echo "Downloading $@ failed"; false)
 
 newcob.val.tar.gz:
 	@echo "Trying to download newcob.val.tar.gz..."