Market & legal data analysis of the cannabis sector in Europe

16th October 2024: Hungary: The government has notified via the EU TRIS notification system a bill that would include certain cannabinoids in the narcotics list, including hexahydrocannabihexol (HHCH), tetrahydrocannabutol (THCB), delta-8-THCP, delta-8-THCH and delta-9-THCH. The government banned HHC, hexahydrocannabinol acetate (HHCO) and hexahydrocannabiphorol (HHCP) in September 2023, while tetrahydrocannabidiol (H4-CBD or hydrogenated CBD) and tetrahydrocannabiphorol (THCP) were banned in May 2024. The end of the standstill period has not been set yet.
15th October 2024: Germany: The first cannabis club in Lower Saxony has harvested its first 200 plants, and in two weeks the dried flowers will be distributed to members, press reports. According to the club’s chairman, every dispensing of a cannabis product will be documented and accompanied by a leaflet indicating the product’s characteristics. A prevention officer will be responsible for providing advice to members and monitoring their consumption. The state of Lower Saxony has so far issued 15 permits for cannabis clubs.
15th October 2024: Belgium: The Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety, and the Environment has updated its positive list of notified herbal products for smoking, which includes hemp flowers and other smokable cannabinoid products. Products not on the list may not be placed on the Belgian market without going through the notification process.
15th October 2024: Lithuania: Today, the Seimas (parliament) approved the amendments to the Fibre Hemp Law that would make it easier to import hemp products from other EU countries and would also simplify the requirements for suppliers and allow the import of a limited amount of seeds of non-legalised EU fibre hemp varieties from third countries for scientific experimental or breeding purposes without an import licence, media reports. Next, the amendments should be signed by the president.
15th October 2024: Italy: European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides responded on behalf of the European Commission (EC) to a parliamentary enquiry regarding the compliance of the Italian security bill – which seeks to limit hemp to industrial uses and ban the cultivation and sale of hemp flowers, regardless of THC content – with European legislation and jurisprudence. Kyriakides said the EC had received multiple complaints on the issue and is currently assessing the compliance of these measures.
14th October 2024: EU: Today, the Council has adopted a new regulation on the classification, labelling, and packaging of chemical substances (CLP), updating the existing 2008 EU legislation. The revised regulation clarifies labelling issues, such as readability and digital labelling, and increases compliance with CLP for online sales of chemicals. The amendment seeks, among other things, to improve the harmonised classification of chemicals and clarify rules on hazard labelling, etc. This may impose additional obligations on the producers of vaping or tobacco products in relation to chemicals that may be contained in them.
14th October 2024: France: The government has presented the Social Security Financing Bill for 2025, and there are currently no amendments proposed to extend the medical cannabis experiment for another year. However, such amendments are likely to be introduced, considering that the implementation of the new framework for cannabis-based medicines, originally planned for 2025, has been delayed until 2026 due to political and administrative setbacks.
14th October 2024: Germany: According to a survey conducted by the YouGov Institute and published in the newspaper Der Spiegel, 55% of 2,100 respondents think that legalisation was wrong, while 37% think it was right. In addition, one-third of Germans have noticed an increase in cannabis consumption in their surroundings since legalisation.
11th October 2024: EU: The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has published a preliminary ruling confirming that states may prohibit the cultivation of hemp using hydroponic systems in indoor environments if based and justified on public health grounds. The case was brought by a company to whom the Romanian authorities had partially refused a permit to cultivate hemp. The authorities had given the permit for the cultivation in 0.50 hectares but claimed that the remaining 0.04 ha destined for hydroponic indoor cultivation belonged to a building that had a different land use and that, according to scientific analyses, that cultivation system carried the risk of the THC content limit being exceeded in hemp plants cultivated in that way. According to the court, the prohibition does not go beyond what is necessary to attain the objective of protecting public health.
10th October 2024: Czech Republic: The Senate has passed the proposal to regulate hemp extracts with HHC and with a THC content of up to 1%, among other psychoactive substances, media reports. The proposal would restrict sales, prohibit advertising, and introduce registration requirements for such substances. It will now need to be signed by the president.
10th October 2024: Ukraine: The Ministry of Health reports that businesses which already have a valid drug licence can start working with medical cannabis. First they must register the plant substance of cannabis as an active pharmaceutical ingredient in the State Register of Medicinal Products.
7th October 2024: Malta: The chief executive officer of the Authority for the Responsible Use of Cannabis (ARUC), Joey Reno Vella, has said in an interview that the authority is exploring the possibility of introducing designated places where consumption of recreational cannabis would be permitted and to allow licensed clubs to sell other forms of cannabis, press reports. Reno Vella has positioned himself in favour of on-site consumption, currently prohibited in licensed clubs and only allowed in private spaces.

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