The European Commission has opened an investigation into efforts by the Italian government to halt trade in CBD and hemp flowers.
Italian Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Valentina Palmisano of the M5S party confirmed the Commission will issue an opinion after stakeholders filed complaints suggesting such a move is against EU regulations.
The proposed ban is part of a two-pronged approach by the government of Giorgia Meloni, who appears determined to wipe out EU-legal hemp flowers and the cannabinoids derived from them. In addition to being the source of CBD, industrial hemp flowers are also sold in Italy as smokable “cannabis light,” catering to a growing market seeking alternative wellness products without the psychoactive effects of marijuana.
Amendment faces Senate
A controversial amendment to Italy’s 2023 Security Law that would institute a ban on flowers – effectively shutting down the source of CBD and cutting off trade in smokable buds – is currently being considered by the Italian Senate after it was passed by the Chamber of Deputies, Parliament’s lower house, in September.
That is on top of a decree that took effect Aug. 5 that placed CBD on the country’s list of narcotic drugs, forbidding products taken internally by consumers.
In its complaint to the EC, hemp trade group Canapa Sativa Italia contends the government is in violation of EU rules on competition and the free movement of goods, and that its efforts are incompatible with EU Common Agricultural Policy. The Commission said it also received other complaints from Italy over the proposed ban.
EC ruling is clear
(MEP) Valentina Palmisano said she was “very satisfied with the response” of the commission when presented with the hemp problem in Italy. She said the proposed amendment “completely wrongly equates ‘cannabis light’ to drugs, contradicting, among other things, a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).”
The ECJ ruled in 2021 that hemp extracts from leaves and flowers and the CBD they contain are not narcotic drugs and are therefore marketable. The ruling eventually led the European Commission to reverse its previous position that CBD should be considered a narcotic in EU states. Since that time, many EU member states have revisited and adjusted their national laws and regulations accordingly.
The amendment in Italy, if approved, would have a devastating effect on supply chains that make and sell CBD-based products in the dietary supplements and herbal medicine sectors – and possibly cosmetics, stakeholders have said. The risk to CBD cosmetics also comes despite CBD having been approved for inclusion in Cosing, the European database for cosmetic preparations in 2021.