The Council of State on Monday suspended the government decree prohibiting the sale of hemp flower and leaf loaded with CBD, the non-psychotropic molecule of cannabis.
The highest administrative court had been seized by various actors in the sector wishing to obtain the urgent suspension of a decree issued by the government on December 30 and which prohibits the sale and consumption of hemp flowers containing cannabidiol (CBD).
In its order, the Council of State considered that it “does not follow from the instruction that hemp flowers and leaves with a THC content not greater than 0.30% would be harmful to health justifying a general and absolute ban on their sale to consumers and their consumption”.
A “provisional” suspension
The Council of State specified in a press release that the suspension applies “provisionally” while waiting for the authority “to rule definitively on the merits on the legality of the contested decree”.
The State will have to pay the total sum of 13,000 euros to the thirteen applicant companies. “For us it was a thorn in the side, we were desperate and it called into question the whole industry. The horizon is clearing but everything remains to be done”, rejoiced Aurélien Delecroix, president of the hemp union, one of the requesting parties.
In November 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union thus ruled illegal the banning of CBD in France, authorized in several other European countries, in the name of the principle of free movement of goods.
European justice considered that it had “no harmful effect on health” and could not be considered a narcotic, unlike its twin molecule, THC, which can be found on the black market and which has psychotropic effects.
The Cour de cassation, the highest court in the French judiciary, followed suit, considering in June that any CBD legally produced in the EU could be sold in France.