A brief analysis of the hemp market in Germany (food and cosmetics)
The restraining factor is the requirement for use - the provision of a comprehensive and expensive toxicological report confirming the safety of the product . Due to the huge costs, which, according to experts, range from € 300,000 to € 400,000, many entrepreneurs shy away from conducting this kind of research on manufactured products .
At the beginning of 2019, significant changes took place in the catalog of cannabinoids regulated by the EU New Products Directive . The initial recording of Cannabidiol implied extracts of Cannabis sativa L., in which the number of CBD was higher than in the original plant. In January 2019, the catalog provisions of the relevant EU Directives were extended to all cannabinoids. From now on, all hemp plant extracts should be considered “new products ” containing cannabinoids, regardless of their quantity. Accordingly, in March 2019, the Federal Office for the Protection of Consumer Rights and Food Safety(Das deutsche Bundesamt für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit , BVL) Germany "suffered" the new provisions of the European directory of food EU in its normative legal documents.
How the above changes affected the German hemp market could be clearly seen in June. An example is the situation around the largest German pharmacy discounter DM, which was forced to remove CBD products from shelves under pressure from the BVL.
Problems with CBD products affected not only large retail chains , but also many small stores . Police actions were held during the year, during which not only non-negotiable psychoactive hemp flowers were confiscated, but also food products containing CBD extracts.
The basis for this kind of action is the new rules regarding food products , since the deliberate sale of “new food products ” is a criminal offense in accordance with § 1a of the new Food Law and may be punished by imprisonment for up to one year or a fine. Another reason for this kind of action on the part of law enforcement and regulatory authorities was the provisions of the Law “On Medicines”, since the inscriptions on the goods declaring their therapeutic properties were contrary to the norms of the above normative legal act.
It should be noted that since 2016 only one application for permission to sell CBD products as a “new product ” is under consideration by the European Commission. The restraining factor is the requirement for use - the provision of a comprehensive and expensive toxicological report confirming the safety of the product. Due to the huge costs, which, according to experts, range from € 300,000 to € 400,000, many entrepreneurs shy away from conducting this kind of research on manufactured products .
In the long run, authorization in the market for “new products ” in accordance with the novels of the Food Regulations is inevitable. The fact that hemp extracts containing cannabinoids are considered “new foods ” was clearly confirmed by the Düsseldorf Administrative Court in late September and the Hanover Administrative Court in November 2019.
In October 2019, there were changes regarding cosmetic preparations , the formulations of which include CBD extract. Until October 2019, no cosmetic product with hemp extracts was sold. The CosIng Register, the European database of cosmetic products , was subject to restrictions due to the provisions of Article 14 of the European Cosmetics Regulation , which refers to the 1961 Single Convention. However, in October, it was possible to ensure that at least hemp leaves were excluded from the scope of Article 14 of the European Cosmetics Regulation . Cosmetics with the addition of technical hemp leaves are currently legal.