European officials have resumed the analysis of cannabidiol novel food authorization applications. This comes after the commission slammed the initiative to treat CBD as a narcotic.
According to the European Commission (European Union’s executive arm), the adjustment comes after a court decision to allow free CBD trading between member states.
Stefan De Keersmaecker, the public food and health safety’s commission spokesman, disclosed European Commission’s opinion change that’s been based on the stringent reading of the 1961 international drugs accord.
In January 2019, hemp-based cannabinoids such as CBD were included in EU’s Novel Foods Catalogue (NFC). Thus, CBD supplements and foods have to be reviewed for user safety and acquire legalization from EU agencies to be available in the market.
When NFC got an update to reflect the status of CBD novel food applications, producers of CBD ingestible products began submitting their applications for food authorization. However, the EU told applicants that it was still uncertain on how the CBD extract would be interpreted within the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic drugs.
In July, EU agencies suspended the evaluation of over fifty applications for CBD novel food authorization. This was because it cited the 1961’s accord cannabis definition that stated the cannabis extract was a type of drug substance.
Last month, the commission got more decisive input on the issue. Five judges on the commission’s top court asserted that CBD can be freely traded between EU member countries citing its non-narcotic properties. The judges derived their conclusion from a wide reading of the drug treaty stating that CBD extracted from a whole hemp plant wasn’t a narcotic according to the treaty’s general spirit and purpose.
In September 2020, the leader of the United Kingdom’s FSA team stated that FSA doesn’t categorize CBD as a Narcotic.
The move by the Court of Justice was conclusive and set a standard for EU member organizations and countries.
