EU Commission — CBD has to be considered novel food

For those who are still trying to find “alternative” routes to the EU market for CBDs, the following Q&A of the EU Parliament and EU Commission shall clarify the situation once and for all.

QUESTIONS

In its ruling of 19 November 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that cannabidiol (CBD) ‘does not appear to have any psychotropic effect or any harmful effect on human health’(1).

In the following week, the Commission stated that ‘in light of the comments received from applicants and of the recent Court’s judgment in case C-663/184, the Commission has reviewed its preliminary assessment and concludes that cannabidiol should not be considered as drug within the meaning of the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 in so far as it does not have psychotropic effect.

As a consequence, cannabidiol can be qualified as food, provided that also the other conditions of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No178/2002 are met.

1. Does the Commission have information about why the Irish Government has not acted on these developments?

2. Why is it that small businesses are still being raided and harassed(2) even though they are selling items such as raw hemp and CBD, which can both be qualified as food?(1)1.C-663/18…