August 2019
The Home Office defines criteria for granting licences for
plant cultivation, saying: “There needs to be a defined
commercial end use and the Home Office only issues
licences for cultivation of plants f rom approved seed
types with a THC content not exceeding 0.2%.” On CBD:
“For a CBD and other cannabinoid product to be lawfully
available for human consumption it needs to either meet
the Exempted Product Criteria in Regulation 2
of the MDR 2001 or the definition of a CBPM
in Schedule 2 to the MDR
2001 for its possession
to be lawful.”
March 5, 2020
The German Federal
Government backtracks
on the developments
of December, siding
with the European Industrial
Hemp Association (EIHA)
stating that food containing parts of the
hemp plant are not novel. “Foodstuffs
containing parts of the hemp plant are in
principle not ‘novel’ foods within the
meaning of regulation (EU 2015/2283).”
January 1, 2021
November 2019
Rumours start circulating about CBD regulations at GCI
Europe, a two-day cannabis conference in London. CBD
companies start to ask questions of health care, food
and CBD speakers about what the regulations or
process is likely to be.
December 2019
Following a court case, German
authorities confirm they view
CBD as prescription medicine
or a novel food.
February 2020
The UK’s FSA announces a
deadline for CBD companies to
comply with testing, labelling
and the Novel Foods Act. After
this date, the local authorities
will enforce the legislation.
Vulnerable people should
avoid CBD and those who
take it should not take more
than 70mg daily.
The recommended submission start
date to allow for any questions to be directed
at the FSA. “We can then give
businesses guidance and answer any queries
they may have, in order to ensure they
progress at pace through our UK
authorisation process f rom January 1 2021.”
March 31, 2021
The final deadline to submit
food products for testing.
Products cannot be on the
shelves unless they are clearly
labelled, transparent about
ingredients and carry
authorisation f rom the FSA.
“A novel food must
not differ in a way that
the consumption of
the novel food would
be nutritionally
disadvantageous
for the consumer.”
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