Is CBD legal in Greece?

Situación jurídica

CBD has been classified as a Novel Food across the EU since January 2019 (Regulation (EU) 2015/2283), and no CBD ingestible holds Union list authorisation anywhere in the EU.

Greece applies that baseline through two instruments. Joint Ministerial Decision D3(a)20492 (Gazette 2712/B, 1 June 2022) sets the conditions for lawfully marketing food supplements containing Cannabis sativa L., requiring notification to EOF with analytical certificates and a certificate of lawful cultivation. EOF's clarifying circular of 8 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.

EFET 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 (Law 5302/2026) is a separate measure aimed at plant material, not at ingestibles.

¿Vendemos aquí?

Sí, por ahora: Sleep spray, Sleep cápsulas.

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. The Greek measures we can see are directed at products placed on the Greek market and at retailers inside the country, not at 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. It does not.

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 EOF 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 EOF 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.

Law 5302/2026 also created a licensed cannabis-commerce regime, and we looked closely at whether it makes licensed premises the only lawful place to sell cannabis products. On the evidence available it does not reach supplements: the prohibition and every implementing instrument issued since are scoped to the flower and other plant material, and the exclusivity that does exist runs upstream to licensed processing units rather than to a retail counter. We record that as narrowed rather than closed, because we have not read the defining article in the Gazette itself.

Cronología

Junio de 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)

Noviembre de 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)

Abril de 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

Mayo de 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.

Ta Nea, reporting EOF and Law 5302/2026

Junio de 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