The industry’s top trade groups say that the latest French move to subvert the thriving CBD sector in France will face widespread opposition.
France has the largest CBD and hemp market in Europe employing some 20,000 people with a total value of around €700m.
However, in a recent move the French Health Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) concludes CBD poses a threat to human reproduction.
This report states that CBD could have teratogenic side effects. It has also warned industry about the potential discontinuation of CBD’s use in foods and cosmetics.
However, a trio of French CBD and hemp bodies – the French Association of Cannabinoid Producers (AFPC), The Professional Hemp Union (SPC) and the Union of Industrialists for the Vaporization of Hemp Extracts (UIVEC) – say they will fight any attempts to curtail the thriving industry.
French CBD producers are determined to stop any such moves on their own domestic market.
Ludovic Rachou, president of UIVEC told MEDCAN24 that “in the worst-case scenario, ANSES might shut down the sector, but this is not something we can see happening.”
We will continue to fight for it. The CBD industry in France has been thriving over the past 10 years or so.
This is just the latest attempt by French authorities to interfere with the booming CBD industry.
It was the country that was the focus of the KanaVape long case. The European Court of Justice decided in 2020 that CBD wasn’t a narcotic, and it could be traded throughout the EU.
The French Government acknowledged this court ruling, but caved in by 2022 with a rule that prohibited the sale and consumption of CBD teas or flowers.
This ban was lifted by the French Council of State in 2023. While many saw this as an attempt to subvert the industry from the government, Rachou is of the opposite opinion.
He contends they are unrelated; preferring to identify the European industry’s main medical cannabis player – GW Pharmaceuticals, now Jazz Pharmaceuticals – as the primary agitator in the ANSES move.
CBD came to ANSES’ attention a few year earlier because of its booming popularity. The Government asked it to integrate it in its purview.
It chose to concentrate its research on CBD’s effects in relation to the Epidyolex drug manufactured by Jazz.
It is therefore based on CBD doses up to 2000mg per day, which are far higher than those that retail stores recommend for healthy lifestyles.
And, late last month ANSES made the surprise announcement that CBD be classified as a ‘presumed human reproductive toxicant’.
This will see it classified as a ‘Category 1B’ product meaning it is subject to strict risk management measures, labelling requirements and potential prohibition.
ANSES discovered, after further investigation, that CBD had not been registered at the European Chemicals Agency. It has asked the ECHA for advice on CBD’s safety in a decision which could also impact the 27 members states of the European Union.
ECHA opened submissions to the ANSES analysis in March this year and these will close on May 17, after which the ECHA will ‘then issue an opinion on the harmonised classification of CBD’ by August 20, 2026.
Rachou replied: “We are talking with ANSES in this regard for a while. It is likely that Jazz Pharmaceuticals has lobbied to cause this misunderstanding.
We will submit evidence on CBD’s safety to ECHA. Since the past 10 years, CBD has been widely used in France with no negative effects reported by users.
These amounts are massive and to consider them as representative of the retail market is just plain wrong. They are huge amounts, and to assume that they represent the entire retail market would be wrong.
The trade associations in the United States say that if a negative decision is made, they will challenge it with data and science as well as counter arguments that address each point of the ANSES’ submissions.
Rachou’s CBD company Raya, one of France’s major players, has highlighted the fact that the EU’s bureaucratic decision-making process will take some time to resolve this matter.
The process of implementing CBD in daily life will likely take years. We are well positioned to assist the CBD industry.
He says CBD is now a ‘basic commodity’ featuring in the country’s main supermarkets and available at some 1,500 specialist shops, several thousand tobacconists, as well as pharmacies and e-commerce platforms.
According to a survey in 2022, over 16% French adults said they consumed CBD at some point during their life.
The ECHA released the following response in response to MEDCAN24. “Our evaluation process is about hazards. Other legislation will assess the risks associated with its use.
France submitted to ECHA a proposal for harmonising the classification and labelling Cannabidiol. A consultation is ongoing on the proposal regarding reproductive toxicity up until 16 May.
Our Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) will review the information in France’s proposed legislation and the results of the consultation and then form an opinion regarding the classification of cannabidiol.
The European Commission will then be notified of the RAC’s opinion. The substance will be added to Annex XI after the Commission adopts a delegated Act. Then, manufacturers, downstream users, and importers of the substance will have to classify, package, and label it according.”
Legally, ECHA’s Risk Assessment Committee has 18 months from the date of the meeting to give its opinion.
Ludovic Rachou will be speaking at Cannabis Europa in London on a ‘State of Play’ panel about the French medical cannabis market. To find out more and purchase tickets, please click here.