Maxeon Solar provides update on CBP detention of its solar panels

Maxeon Solar’s (MAXN) solar panels continue to be detained and excluded from being imported from its Mexico manufacturing facilities into the U.S. market. The company stated that, “Despite having fully and transparently mapped its supply chains and provided U.S. Customs & Border Protection, or CBP, officials with thorough traceability documentation of its clean supply chain, CBP reviewers have alleged a lack of sufficient documentation to prove Maxeon’s compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which the company vehemently refutes, having provided clear and objective evidence to the contrary”. Out-going CEO Bill Mulligan commented: “…Maxeon’s core values are diametrically opposed to the use of forced labor in the production of our products….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…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…” Three separate Maxeon products manufactured in Mexico for use in the United States were first detained in early July. Since then, all shipments have been subsequently excluded, even though Maxeon claims to have established the supply chains for each, from quartz to module, are outside the scope of the UFLPA. The company plans to submit one or more protests for the detention of its Performance line products. Additionally, on September 27, the company submitted a protest for the detention of a container of its Maxeon 6 products and filed a similar protest on October 4 with respect to its Maxeon 3 products. On October 8, CBP suspended these protests and sent them to its Office of Regulations & Rulings in Washington, D.C. following Maxeon’s application for further review.