WASHINGTON – US Customs officials have released more than a third of the electronic equipment, including solar panels, detained since 2022 under a new law meant to weed out products made with forced labour, according to data on Tuesday.

Data from the newly launched data dashboard by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) comes a week after Reuters reported that US imports of solar panels are finally picking up after months of gridlock stemming from implementation of the Uighur Forced Labour Protection Act (UFLPA).

The stalled imports from major Chinese panel suppliers, including Trina Solar and Jinko Solar Holding, caused major delays in US solar project development at a time when the sector is booming – a setback to the Biden administration’s climate goals.

According to the data, CBP has released 552 electronic shipments worth US$345 million (S$464.3 million) out of a total of 1,627 industry shipments valued at US$841 million that were held for examination.

While it was unknown what percentage of those shipments are solar equipment, Reuters reported in 2022 that as at late October, CBP had detained more than 1,000 shipments of solar energy equipment.

The UFLPA prohibits imports of products made in China’s Xinjiang region, where the Chinese authorities are reported to have established labour camps for ethnic Uighur and other Muslim groups. China denies any abuses.

The law requires producers to show sourcing documentation of imported equipment back to the raw material to prove that no portion came from Xinjiang.

The electronic sector accounts for 88 per cent of the US$961 million worth of total shipments detained under the UFLPA since last June.

Most of the electronic shipments that were subjected to reviews were imported from Malaysia and Vietnam, with far smaller amounts from Thailand and China, according to CBP.

The data also shows that detainments peaked in the federal government’s fiscal fourth quarter that ended last September and have steadily declined since then. REUTERS