Is CBD legal in Greece?

25 August 2026

A flag of Greece, next to the chemical structure of CBD

Situación formal

CBD's status across the EU has been fixed since January 2019: an unauthorised novel food under Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, and no member state has granted the authorisation that would change that.

Greece applies that baseline through two instruments. A 2022 joint ministerial decision sets the conditions for lawfully marketing food supplements containing Cannabis sativa L., requiring notification to the Greek medicines agency with analytical certificates and a certificate of lawful cultivation. The agency's clarifying circular of November 2022 then states that all cannabinoids, natural and synthetic, including cannabidiol, are Novel Foods, and that the only edible parts of the plant currently recognised are the seeds, seed oil and seed flour. Processing that modifies the plant's natural cannabinoid content - extraction - falls outside what is permitted. An added CBD extract therefore has no lawful route in Greece.

The Greek food authority applies the same position in food control, treating a product containing CBD as an unauthorised novel food and directing seizure and the imposition of penalties, with notification to the police and the Ministry of Health.

Greece's May 2026 prohibition on retail sale of dried cannabis flower is a separate measure aimed at plant material rather than at ingestibles.

A further law in July 2026 changed the position for supplements. Greece now defines cannabis products to include food supplements and CBD-only products, where the May definition had excluded foods outright, and reserves their retail sale to licensed cannabis-product shops and pharmacies. That governs where such products may be sold inside Greece. It says nothing about importing, shipping or delivering them, and nothing about sellers established in other member states.

¿Vendemos aquí?

Not at the moment.

Greece treats every cannabinoid, including CBD, as a novel food that has not been authorised, and recognises only hemp seeds, seed oil and seed flour as edible parts of the plant. An added CBD extract has no approved route there. In April 2025 the Greek medicines agency ordered a sleep supplement containing CBD and CBN off the Greek market on exactly that basis - a product close enough to ours that we treat it as directly relevant.

We still ship to Greece. Greece tightened again in July 2026, bringing supplements containing CBD inside its licensed cannabis retail regime, but that regime governs shops inside Greece rather than European sellers delivering to customers, and established sellers in our category continue to deliver there. That is the basis for our position, and it is a judgement about enforcement rather than a claim that the underlying rule favours us.

We review Greece weekly, and it is one of the markets we would expect to move before most others.

Perspectivas

Greece showed in May 2026 that it can legislate and enforce quickly: it banned retail sale of dried cannabis flower outright, and the medicines agency implemented that two days later with no transition period. The measure was deliberately scoped to plant material, and the Ministry of Health's June 2026 implementing circulars kept it there, referring other product forms to separate food regulation.

The nearer question is one we are watching closely. In April 2025 the Greek medicines agency prohibited the distribution in Greece of a melatonin, CBD and CBN sleep supplement made in another EU member state, on the ground that CBD and CBN are unapproved novel ingredients. That is a close analogue of what we sell, and it shows the Greek regulator acting on this product concept rather than only on flower.

The licensed retail regime described above is the live question. In May we read it as not reaching supplements, because the definition excluded foods. July's amendment reversed that, so supplements now sit inside the definition and inside the retail channel. What the law does not do is address selling into Greece from abroad, and neither the medicines agency nor the Ministry of Health has published guidance on it. That silence, rather than the definition, is what we are watching now.

Timeline

June 2022

Joint Ministerial Decision D3(a)20492 published in Gazette 2712/B, setting the conditions for lawfully producing and marketing food supplements containing Cannabis sativa L.: notification to EOF with standard food supplement documentation, an analysis certificate for raw materials, a THC analysis certificate for the finished product, a certificate of lawful cultivation, and a production flow diagram.

SustChem, reporting Joint Ministerial Decision D3(a)20492 (Gazette 2712/B, 01-06-2022)

November 2022

EOF issues clarifications on the application of Ministerial Decision D3(a)20492, stating that all cannabinoids, natural and synthetic, including cannabidiol, are Novel Foods; that the only currently recognised edible parts of the plant are the seeds, seed oils and seed flours; and that the 0.2 per cent THC limit set by Article 1 of Law 4139/2013 concerns the harvested material and not the final product, with the aim that in the final product the substance be almost non-detectable.

EOF (National Organisation for Medicines)

April 2025

EOF prohibits the distribution and circulation in Greece of CANNALINE, a melatonin, CBD and CBN sleep supplement manufactured by Euphoria Trade in the Czech Republic, on the ground that it contains the unapproved novel ingredients CBD and CBN. EOF describes the measure as precautionary for the protection of public health.

Ethnos, reporting EOF

May 2026

Law 5302/2026 published in Gazette A' 78. Article 43 prohibits throughout Greek territory the retail sale, distribution and supply to consumers, and the purchase and use by consumers, of dried flower of Cannabis sativa L. varieties with THC up to 0.3 per cent, in processed or unprocessed form. EOF implemented it on 22 May 2026 with immediate effect and no transition period. Article 43 also replaces the 0.2 per cent figure with 0.3 per cent throughout Article 1(3) of Law 4139/2013, raising the industrial hemp threshold, and states that the flower prohibition does not catch import, storage or wholesale distribution for industrial processing.

Ta Nea, reporting EOF and Law 5302/2026

June 2026

Ministry of Health circular applies the dried flower prohibition to kiosks and mini markets regardless of THC or cannabinoid content, and identifies the banned plant parts as flowers and inflorescences, fan leaves, sugar leaves and bracts bearing trichomes, glandular trichomes, and any processed form containing them. It does not extend to oils, capsules, sprays, edibles or food supplements, which it refers to separate EFET and EOF regulation.

Iatronet, reporting the Ministry of Health circular

July 2026

Law 5322/2026 published in Gazette A' 117. Article 85 redefines cannabis products to include cosmetics and food supplements meeting the conditions of Article 1(3) of Law 4139/2013, and products containing only cannabidiol. The May 2026 definition had excluded foods outright; the new wording excludes foods with an express exception for those supplements. Retail sale of cannabis products in Greece is reserved to licensed cannabis-product businesses and pharmacies. The law is silent on distance selling and on sellers established in other member states.

Taxheaven, reproducing Article 85 of Law 5322/2026 (Gazette A' 117)

Ingredientes

Consultar la legalidad de nuestros otros ingredientes en Greece.