Polish authorities have given negative designations to 41 CBD products that applied for approval to be on the domestic market, rattling CBD producers and importers. The advisories, posted on the web-based directory of the country’s Chief Sanitary Inspectorate (GIS), could indicate a ban on some of their CBD-based dietary supplement products.
One firm that imports CBD for sales in Poland received a letter notifying it of the negative designations on 19 products for which it was seeking approval, HempToday has learned. Meanwhile a second CBD seller told HempToday it had received no letter of notification that its products were disapproved, and that it simply discovered negative designations regarding its products on the GIS site.
In some cases, GIS indicated products which applied for approval as dietary supplements “cannot be sold as foodstuffs” while firms which defined their products as “dietary supplements with medical benefits” received negative notices stating flatly that they “cannot be sold” in Poland.
Under the existing regime in Poland, makers of dietary supplements must apply to register their plant-based products, and their production facilities must undergo inspection by GIS. But in practice, the firms have been allowed to begin marketing and sales even before approval as long as the packaging meets certain guidelines regarding health claims, and displays information on the components contained in the product.
The 41 products that got negative ratings make up fully one half of 82 that were in the GIS registration process. Many among that total had applied as far back as 2015, and several have been on the market under temporary allowances while their applications were pending. The remaining 41, some of which also first sought approval back in 2015, still have not received rulings either positive or negative from GIS.
GIS in January blocked one Polish firm’s CBD product under a ruling some saw as unclear.
