Is CBD legal in Belgium?

Formal status

Across the EU, CBD is classified as an unauthorised novel food under Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, and no Union list authorisation exists in any member state. EFSA has set a provisional safe intake level of roughly 2 mg per day for a 70 kg adult; that is a safety opinion, not an authorisation.

Belgium prohibits CBD in food through plant law rather than narcotics law. The Royal Decree of 31 August 2021 on foodstuffs containing plants places Cannabis sativa L. on List 1 of dangerous plants, so foodstuffs and food supplements containing the plant or its preparations may not be marketed. The federal health service states that this extends to distance selling: CBD oil cannot be marketed within the European Union, e-commerce included. On 5 May 2026 it published a fresh statement to the same effect, adding that ECHA has recommended CBD be classified as a reproductive toxicant.

Under narcotics law the position is the opposite, and it favours a low-THC product. Cannabidiol is not scheduled anywhere in the Royal Decree of 6 September 2017 - the substance annexes name only tetrahydrocannabinol and dronabinol. Cannabis resin, extracts and tinctures are scheduled only where the sum of delta-9-THC and THCA concentrations exceeds 0.3%, a figure raised from 0.2% by the Royal Decree of 24 April 2024 with effect from 1 June 2024.

A third axis matters for a sleep product specifically. The Belgian medicines agency states that food supplements containing parts of the cannabis plant which claim to relieve pain or sleep problems fall under medical cannabis, are not authorised as medicines in Belgium, and are therefore sold illegally. That position turns on the combination of a cannabis ingredient with a therapeutic claim rather than on CBD itself.

Do we sell here?

Not at the moment.

We do not currently ship to Belgium, and we want to be straightforward about why.

Belgium takes a firm line on CBD in food. A royal decree of 2021 lists the cannabis plant among those that may not be used in foodstuffs at all, and the federal health service has said clearly, most recently in May 2026, that this applies to online sales from elsewhere in Europe as well as to Belgian shops. Separately, the medicines agency takes the view that a cannabis-based supplement sold for sleep is being presented as a medicine.

That is not the same as saying the product is dangerous or that Belgian law treats CBD as a drug - it does not. Belgian narcotics law leaves cannabidiol entirely unscheduled, and a low-THC hemp extract like ours falls well below the threshold at which it would be controlled. The obstacle is food law, and it is one we take seriously rather than work around.

We keep Belgium under review and will say so plainly here if that changes.

Outlook

Belgium's food-law position is unlikely to move on its own. What would move it is an EU novel food authorisation, which would remove the basis for the plant-list prohibition as applied to a CBD extract. Nothing suggests that is close.

The direction worth watching is the opposite one. ECHA's recommendation that CBD be classified as a reproductive toxicant is now cited in Belgian official communications, and if that classification is adopted at EU level it would tighten rather than loosen the position across several countries at once.

The more immediate thing to watch is narrower and more practical: whether the medicines agency's stated view about cannabis products carrying sleep claims begins to generate actual decisions, as opposed to remaining a published position.

Timeline

August 2019

Joint operation by Politie Westkust, FOD Volksgezondheid, the FAVV and Customs at a CBD shop in Oostduinkerke, with a simultaneous action at a comparable shop in Antwerp. The entire stock of CBD oil bottles and the full quantity of tea were seized on the ground that the goods "bevatten meer verdovende middelen dan wettelijk toegestaan". Both targets were Belgian-established physical shops.

Politie Westkust

August 2021

Royal Decree of 31 August 2021 on foodstuffs containing plants places Cannabis sativa L. on List 1 of "dangerous plants", so foodstuffs and food supplements containing it may not be marketed in Belgium. The FPS Health FAQ states that e-commerce is caught as well: CBD oil "ne peut donc pas être commercialisée au sein de l'Union européenne (e-commerce interdit également)".

SPF Santé publique — FAQ Cannabis (February 2025 version)

January 2026

AFMPS states that foodstuffs and food supplements containing parts of the cannabis plant "qui prétendent soulager la douleur ou les problèmes de sommeil" fall under medical cannabis, are not authorised as medicines in Belgium, and are therefore "vendus illégalement". The position turns on the combination of a cannabis-plant ingredient and a therapeutic claim, moving such products into AFMPS competence rather than that of FPS Health.

AFMPS — Médicaments et autres produits à base de cannabis ou cannabidiol

May 2026

FPS Public Health publishes a statement that no CBD-based ingredient has been authorised as a novel food and that CBD-containing food products cannot be sold on the European market, citing EFSA's provisional safe dose of 2 mg per day for a 70 kg adult and ECHA's recommendation that CBD be classified as a reproductive toxicant. It stresses that a product being available does not mean it is authorised or safe.

SPF Santé publique