On December 30, the French government attempted by order to restrict the sale of hemp leaves and flowers to “the industrial production of hemp extracts” by therefore prohibiting their sale to individuals in CBD shops or online.
The CBD industry, whose CBD flowers account for 50 to 70% of in-store sales, had not waited to prepare its legal response and file an interim release.
“We spent our New Year’s Eve there on December 31, then we filed our appeal before the Council of State on January 1. It was well registered on January 3, and was not rejected. So we hope that the judge will rule this week ”told us at the time Yann Bisiou, specialist in drug law and also legal consultant to the union Union of CBD Professionals (UPCBD).
The summary hearing was held in mid-January. It was an opportunity for the CBD world to make its voice heard in front of the Council of State and to highlight both the economic importance of the flower trade and the contradictions of authorizing the production of flowers for the extract but not for their direct sale.
“The government tells us: Apple juice is fine. The apple is amazing, and I’m hardly exaggerating! » joked the lawyer Cédric Uzan Sarano, who defends the Syndicat Professionnel du Chanvre (SPC) and the company Green Leaf.
The Council of State finally rendered its decision at the end of January and suspended the ban on the sale of CBD flowers wanted by the government and supported by MILDECA. Since then, the sale of hemp flowers is no longer prohibited without a real legal framework to regulate their trade except for the maximum rate of THC set at 0.3%.
As distilled in one of our articles yesterday, the Council of State must meet tomorrow, Wednesday, December 14, in order to rule on the pending ban on the sale of hemp flowers and leaves to individuals. The public rapporteur filed his conclusions yesterday to which the L630 association was able to have access: he recommends deleting II of Article 1 of the decree of December 30, 2021 which prohibits the sale of CBD flowers to individuals and restricts the cultivation of hemp to active farmers.
As Yann Bisiou reminds us, “ in 9 cases out of 10, the Council of State follows the public rapporteur“. The final decision will be made tomorrow.
