Supreme Court stands firm on order in Tank-Weld, Arc rebar case
Published:Thursday | April 30, 2026 | 12:09 AM
The Supreme Court has left in place orders it granted earlier this month barring the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) from taking any enforcement action arising from the findings of an investigation it conducted into the operation of the local reinforcing steel bar (rebar) market.
A 56-page investigation report published by the FTC in March concluded that Tank-Weld Metals, the leading supplier of steel products in Jamaica, was “likely” abusing its dominant position in the rebar market.
The investigation was triggered by a complaint filed by building supplies company Arc Manufacturing.
Tank-Weld has “firmly rejected” the report as flawed and insisted that it has “serious calculation errors” and was produced “without basic fairness”.
The initial orders were made on April 8 by Justice Sharon Millwood Moore at the end of the ex partes hearing of an application filed by attorneys for Tank-Weld seeking to have the report shelved until a legal challenge to the findings are ventilated in court.
An ex partes hearing typically involves only the party making the application without representation of the opposing party.
However, following an inter partes hearing on Tuesday involving all the interested parties, Justice David Batts left in place the order barring the FTC and Arc Manufacturing from acting on the report.
Batts went further, issuing a restraining order barring the FTC and Arc or anyone affiliated with them from “disseminating, distributing and or publishing” the report or any part of it except for during the court case.
Attorneys for Arc had opposed the application on the grounds that Tank-Weld has not provided evidence of any reputational damage caused by the report.