Maxeon Solar Panels Detained in Mexico

Maxeon Solar Technologies says that its solar panels continue to be detained and excluded from being imported to the U.S. market from its Mexico manufacturing facilities. 

Despite claiming that the company has mapped its supply chains and provided U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) officials with traceability documentation of its clean supply chain, Maxeon says CBP reviewers have alleged a lack of sufficient documentation to prove the company’s compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which the company refutes.

“As a pioneering, ethical solar company founded in the United States almost 40 years ago, Maxeon’s core values are diametrically opposed to the use of forced labor in the production of our products,” says Bill Mulligan, Maxeon’s out-going CEO.

“Over the past 20 years we have consistently taken extraordinary measures to ensure a clean and traceable supply chain that have cost us hundreds of millions of dollars more than our competition. CBP has found no evidence of non-compliance with the UFLPA. Nonetheless, the Partnership track of CBP Electronics Center of Excellence and Expertise has decided to bar entry of our products.

“We are strong proponents of the UFLPA and have provided CBP with tens of thousands of pages of documentation, including numerous walk throughs for explanation of standard manufacturing and shipping processes. None of our supply chains involve entities on the UFLPA list, two of our supply chains do not even enter China, and yet the reviewers have declined to make the appropriate determination that UFLPA does not apply. This outcome is even more disappointing given the pressing need to facilitate our country’s transition to clean energy.”

The UFLPA was signed into law by President Biden in December 2021.