Author:

György Folk (EUrologus)

The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled Thursday that cross-border trade in CBD and health products made from cannabis sativa will be free in the European Union. The market could quadruple in the next four years. Read our overview of European CBD.

Cannabidiol – CBD – derived from herbs and preparations containing them – are now freely available throughout the EU. CBD is a collective name for the non-psychoactive (tear-resistant) active ingredients grown in the cabbanis sativa plant, whose positive health effects are surrounded by growing scientific consensus, although there is much more research to be done on the subject due to regulatory barriers.

According to the Court of Justice of the European Union on Thursday, CBD cannot be considered a drug under the 1961 UN Convention Against Illicit Drugs. Furthermore, Member States cannot prohibit the marketing of legally produced CBD to each other if it is extracted from the cannabis sativa plant, including the flowers. In relation to the verdict, France, involved in the court case, was sentenced by judges to provide scientific evidence of the dangers of CBD if it decides to maintain a ban on the trade of these products in the country.

From gray to white zone

The ruling of the European Court of Justice is also in line with global political and economic trends surrounding the CBD. On the one hand, CBD was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2019 as intoxicating and should be removed from the UN list of illicit drugs.

On the other hand, the court ruling is in line with market trends, as the products can be purchased in a significant number of Member States, despite the fact that CBD derivatives and plant products are in the gray regulatory zone in most countries.

The EU already accounts for a third of the already significant global CBD market. CBD products are widely sold throughout Europe, from specialty stores in Belgium or Luxembourg, for example, to just around the corner in Germany.

The market generated only 270 million euros in sales in Europe in 2018, but by 2023, according to market analysts, the CBD business could grow to 1.3 billion euros. Currently, most CBD products in Europe are sold in Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, but they are legal among Poles, while in Bulgaria they also belong to the gray zone but are available. The Czechs are also big producers and there is a CBD in Luxembourg and of course in the Netherlands.

Following the court ruling, the stricter French EU hemp laws, which only allow fiber and seed production, must change; Processing of the whole plant is not allowed, making it impossible to extract concentrated CBD from the flowers of the plant. In any case, the European CBD has referred to the French case, citing the example of problems in which the EU legislation is not clear.

However, the CBD situation is further complicated by the fact that in 2019 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) added it to the EU list of novel foods and food ingredients, forcing food manufacturers to authorize their products, but it is not mandatory in all Member States. Enforcement of the rule is particularly problematic when CBD products have gray legal status.

All of this was twisted by the European Commission when it recently suspended the new food status of CBD products pending a decision on whether each CBD product should be classified as a medicine; the EC must decide later this year, depending on the industry.

Finally, the European CBD industry may also be concerned about what the European Commission is proposing to the 12 EU Member States that vote on CBD issues in cannabis and medicine at the next meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND). ) of the United Nations in Vienna on December 2, 2020.