Despite the Council of State knocking back its initial attempt to derail the French authorities’ latest crackdown on CBD, the head of the trade groups fighting the ban remain upbeat on its chances of success.
Earlier this year MASA (Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty) expressed safety concerns over the sale of edible CBD products in French retailers.
On May 15, the French Directorate General for Food (DGAL) ordered the removal from the market of CBD food products – sublingual oils, capsules, infusions, candies, beverages – under a new national control plan, following a risk assessment by the French food authority ANSES.
Trade groups, including the Union of CBD Professionals (UPCBD) and the Union of Industries for the Promotion of Hemp Extracts (UIVEC) lodged an urgent appeal for this ban to be overturned at the Council of State (Conseil d’Etat).
This had two particular aims: initially to obtain an emergency suspension through an interim injunction and, secondly, a definitive cancellation of the order.
However, in July the Council of State determined that no emergency ruling was necessary, highlighting how the order was primarily concerned with issuing new permits rather than the seizure of stocks.
The hearing judge also went on to say that he expected a final decision to be issued within months.
Speaking to Business of Cannabis, Paul Maclean, President of UPCBD, outlined how the authorities’ approach to CBD has changed in the last year.
“Back on the 15th of April, they turned around to us and said that there would no longer be any tolerance for any CBD food products in France.
“(Yet) since 2022, we had had an open dialogue with the French government where we had a system similar to what we have in the UK, where there was a tolerance for products under a certain amount of milligrams.
“We were working with them. In 2025 when we had our annual meeting, there was a worry because some children had eaten some CBD sweets, and the parents had panicked, and it had gone all over the news.
“So, in 2025, the main thing put forward was, ‘well, you’ve got to be careful when it comes to selling CBD sweets. The packaging, making sure it’s not too brightly coloured and attractive for young children’, that sort of stuff.
“So it’s an industry that had been working, growing, and we were under the impression that there was a certain stability. There was a tolerance under certain conditions.
“We knew the conditions could be added or could change, but that it would ultimately continue until at least the whole Novel Food situation with EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) is sorted out.
“But on April, the 15th, they basically turned around to us and said, ‘Right, that’s it. It’s over. We are going to be doing a control plan’, which would mean they’re going to be sending their agents into all the companies, starting on the 15th of May.”
So far there has been limited enforcement action from the authorities, with mainly the retailers who have complained in public being the ones targeted by enforcement teams, said Maclean.
The Council of State has previously ruled in favour of the CBD industry. In 2022 an attempt by the authorities to outlaw the sale of flowers in shops was rejected on the basis of the Kanavape ruling that CBD is a non-narcotic.
This latest review will consider whether the DGAL was lawfully permitted to adopt its control plan.
Zoé Demange, co-founder and General Manager of UIVEC, said: “The Novel Food regulation is the backdrop, but the question put to the court is a slightly different one.
“It is whether the administration was entitled to reverse its own published doctrine overnight.
“For several years operators developed products, obtained declaration certificates and invested on the basis of the framework the administration itself had set out. The plan then withdrew all of it from the market, with no transitional arrangements and no notice.
“That is what the Conseil d’État will have to assess: not the science, but whether such a reversal can lawfully be imposed on an entire sector in that way.
“The arguments that matter have not been examined yet, and that is precisely why we are approaching the autumn hearing with confidence.”
Maclean added: “We’re now waiting for that decision… If we didn’t believe we would win the court case, we would not have filed it. We are optimistic.”
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Earlier this year MASA (Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty) expressed safety concerns over the sale of edible CBD products in French retailers.
On May 15, the French Directorate General for Food (DGAL) ordered the removal from the market of CBD food products – sublingual oils, capsules, infusions, candies, beverages – under a new national control plan, following a risk assessment by the French food authority ANSES.
Trade groups, including the Union of CBD Professionals (UPCBD) and the Union of Industries for the Promotion of Hemp Extracts (UIVEC) lodged an urgent appeal for this ban to be overturned at the Council of State (Conseil d’Etat).
This had two particular aims: initially to obtain an emergency suspension through an interim injunction and, secondly, a definitive cancellation of the order.
Open dialogue
However, in July the Council of State determined that no emergency ruling was necessary, highlighting how the order was primarily concerned with issuing new permits rather than the seizure of stocks.
The hearing judge also went on to say that he expected a final decision to be issued within months.
Speaking to Business of Cannabis, Paul Maclean, President of UPCBD, outlined how the authorities’ approach to CBD has changed in the last year.
“Back on the 15th of April, they turned around to us and said that there would no longer be any tolerance for any CBD food products in France.
“(Yet) since 2022, we had had an open dialogue with the French government where we had a system similar to what we have in the UK, where there was a tolerance for products under a certain amount of milligrams.
“We were working with them. In 2025 when we had our annual meeting, there was a worry because some children had eaten some CBD sweets, and the parents had panicked, and it had gone all over the news.
“So, in 2025, the main thing put forward was, ‘well, you’ve got to be careful when it comes to selling CBD sweets. The packaging, making sure it’s not too brightly coloured and attractive for young children’, that sort of stuff.
“So it’s an industry that had been working, growing, and we were under the impression that there was a certain stability. There was a tolerance under certain conditions.
“We knew the conditions could be added or could change, but that it would ultimately continue until at least the whole Novel Food situation with EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) is sorted out.
“But on April, the 15th, they basically turned around to us and said, ‘Right, that’s it. It’s over. We are going to be doing a control plan’, which would mean they’re going to be sending their agents into all the companies, starting on the 15th of May.”
So far there has been limited enforcement action from the authorities, with mainly the retailers who have complained in public being the ones targeted by enforcement teams, said Maclean.
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The Council of State has previously ruled in favour of the CBD industry. In 2022 an attempt by the authorities to outlaw the sale of flowers in shops was rejected on the basis of the Kanavape ruling that CBD is a non-narcotic.
This latest review will consider whether the DGAL was lawfully permitted to adopt its control plan.
Zoé Demange, co-founder and General Manager of UIVEC, said: “The Novel Food regulation is the backdrop, but the question put to the court is a slightly different one.
“It is whether the administration was entitled to reverse its own published doctrine overnight.
“For several years operators developed products, obtained declaration certificates and invested on the basis of the framework the administration itself had set out. The plan then withdrew all of it from the market, with no transitional arrangements and no notice.
“That is what the Conseil d’État will have to assess: not the science, but whether such a reversal can lawfully be imposed on an entire sector in that way.
“The arguments that matter have not been examined yet, and that is precisely why we are approaching the autumn hearing with confidence.”
Maclean added: “We’re now waiting for that decision… If we didn’t believe we would win the court case, we would not have filed it. We are optimistic.”
The post French Trade Groups Prepare For Key CBD Ruling appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
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