Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act comes into force in the US

June 21, 2022
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Importers of solar products from China will need to prove their supply chains are free of forced labour or risk detention. Image: Luke Price via Flickr

The US’ Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) has come into force today and assumes that any items “wholly or in part” made in China’s Xinjiang region are a product of the region’s alleged labour camps for ethnic minorities, meaning they are prohibited from entering the US.

The law, which has potentially huge ramifications for the US solar sector, is a response to allegations that China is persecuting Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the north-western region of Xinjiang, where close to half of the world’s polysilicon is produced.  

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

On Friday (17 June), the US Department of Homeland Security released a list of entities whose products are assumed to be made with forced labour and are banned from entering the US.  

The list includes dozens of companies who are accused of using forced labour or facilitating it and the transfer of people to alleged labour camps in China, including Hoshine Silicon and the Xinjiang subsidiaries of polysilicon makers Daqo, East Hope and GCL.

The key question for the US solar sector, and indeed companies in other regions who export to the US, is how strictly the law will be enforced and the standard of evidence required to pass US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) checks, with an “elevated” standard compared to the existing Hoshine Withhold Release Order (WRO) expected.

On 13 June, CBP issued guidance to importers regarding the standard of evidence needed, stating the Act requires CBP to “apply the rebuttable presumption unless the importer can overcome the presumption of forced labour by establishing, by clear and convincing evidence, that the good, ware, article, or merchandise was not mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by forced labour.”

“This elevated standard will require the importer to not only use due diligence in evaluation of its supply chain, but also to respond completely and substantively to CBP requests for information regarding entries it may review,” the CBP added.  

The US ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, said he had spoken to more than 150 US companies, urging them to work hard to comply with the UFLPA and thanking CBP for its guidance on the matter.

Christian Roselund, senior policy analyst at supply chain traceability firm Clean Energy Associates (CEA) said: “This was the outcome that we found most likely and means a de facto ban on cells and modules containing polysilicon from Xinjiang.”

Roselund said most large suppliers serving the US were already using ex-Xinjiang polysilicon and that there was “ample polysilicon for the US and EU markets from other provinces in China”, adding that more non-Xinjiang polysilicon capacity was expected to come online in other provinces in 2023.  

Similarly, BNEF said that “most solar wafer manufacturers have already separated supply chains for the US and non US markets, and there is plenty of polysilicon made outside Xinjiang to supply the US market,” according to its head of solar analysis, Jenny Chase, who added that BNEF expects the impact of the ULFPA to be “very limited” unless “proof of origin proves more difficult than anticipated on implementation”.

A “great concern” for the US market, however, is the 13 June CBP guidance that could see the enforcement agency focus on factories with multiple sources of supply, said Roselund, with the CBP increasingly hot on the co-mingling on products from various sources.

“Module buyers could see challenges sourcing modules not only from China and Southeast Asia but nearly all nations. China produces 97% of the world’s ingots and wafers and there are few ingot and wafer factories that currently process only non-Xinjiang polysilicon,” said Roseland, adding that CEA saw the potential for new US-serving ingot and wafer factories in Southeast Asia to process only non-Xinjiang polysilicon to comply with the new guidance.  

More to follow…

21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
10 March 2026
Frankfurt, Germany
The conference will gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing out to 2030 and beyond.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

Premium
October 17, 2025
According to Ronak Maheshwari of CRC-IB, there has been a struggle for US renewable power projects to secure necessary equity .
October 17, 2025
Norwegian renewable energy firm Scatec has signed lease agreements for 64MW of solar PV and 10MWh of energy storage capacity in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
October 17, 2025
A group of over 20 US states are suing the Trump administration for the cancellation of the US$7 billion Solar For All Scheme.
October 16, 2025
Masdar and Turkey have entered the final stage of US$1 billion agreement to develop the 1.1GW plant in Bor, Niğde Province, central Turkey.
October 16, 2025
T1 Energy and Nextracker have agreed to use the latter’s steel module frames at the former’s new 5GW module manufacturing facility in Dallas.
October 16, 2025
US utility-scale solar additions grew by 56% in 2024, reaching 30GW from 2023’s 19GW and representing over 54% of all new electricity generation capacity added in the country last year.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK