Is CBN legal in Malta?

Situación jurídica

Cannabinoids including CBN have been classified as Novel Food across the EU since January 2019 (Regulation (EU) 2015/2283); no cannabinoid ingestible holds Union list authorisation anywhere in the EU.

No Maltese instrument addresses CBN by name. It does not need to. Bill 128's exclusion is drafted around non-psychoactive phytocannabinoids as a class rather than around a named compound, so CBN falls inside it on the category's own terms - the same drafting that catches CBD also releases CBN, without any inference from CBD's treatment.

Malta is unusual in this respect: most member states leave CBN wholly unaddressed, and a category-worded rule is the only kind that reaches it without read-across.

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CBN sits inside the same Maltese exclusion as CBD, and unusually, that's not something we've inferred - Malta's law is written around non-psychoactive cannabinoids as a category, so it covers CBN directly. Most countries don't address CBN at all.

The remaining open question is the EU-wide novel food position, which applies to both.

Perspectivas

Because Malta's exclusion is written by category, CBN's position here does not depend on anything CBN-specific happening, and a CBN-forward formulation neither gains nor loses anything.

The residual is the EU novel food question, shared with CBD.

Cronología

Diciembre de 2021

Act LXVI of 2021 creates Chapter 628 and the Authority on the Responsible Use of Cannabis, making Malta the first EU member state to permit adult personal cannabis use and home cultivation. The reform does not address CBD ingestibles or food supplements.

Parliament of Malta

Mayo de 2025

Parliament unanimously passes Bill 128, amending the definition of cannabis under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance to include THC and CBD while expressly excluding inflorescences, leaves, extracts and products derived from non-psychoactive phytocannabinoids containing less than 0.2% THC. Synthetic and semi-synthetic cannabinoids are banned, and ARUC gains broader enforcement powers.

The Malta Independent

Agosto de 2026

Maltese counsel publish an analysis of a Court of Magistrates decision applying the 2025 carve-out, in which the magistrate held that importing or possessing part of the cannabis plant below 0.2% THC is not criminal - a position the magistrate described as arguable under the pre-2025 definition but definitely not the case following the amendments.

Mifsud & Mifsud Advocates