Is CBN legal in Belgium?

Formal status

Across the EU, cannabinol is treated as an unauthorised novel food under Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 in the same way as CBD, and no Union list authorisation exists in any member state.

Belgium has no rule addressing cannabinol by name at all. It is not scheduled in the Royal Decree of 6 September 2017 - the substance annexes name only tetrahydrocannabinol and dronabinol - and it appears in no Belgian food instrument in its own right.

What catches it is the same plant-based food prohibition that catches CBD. The Royal Decree of 31 August 2021 places Cannabis sativa L. on List 1 of dangerous plants, and the prohibition is worded by plant rather than by cannabinoid, so it reaches any extract of that plant regardless of which cannabinoid is being sold. The federal health service treats other cannabinoids, naming CBG and HHC, as prohibited novel foods on the same footing.

The medicines agency's position on cannabis-based supplements carrying sleep claims applies here too, and for a CBN sleep product it applies squarely: such products are said to fall under medical cannabis and to be sold illegally.

Do we sell here?

Not at the moment.

We do not currently ship to Belgium. The reason has nothing to do with cannabinol specifically - Belgian law does not mention it at all, in either its narcotics schedules or its food rules.

The obstacle is broader. A royal decree of 2021 lists the cannabis plant among those that may not be used in foodstuffs, and because that rule is written around the plant rather than around any particular cannabinoid, it reaches any extract of it. The federal health service has confirmed this applies to online sales from elsewhere in Europe.

See our CBD page for Belgium for the fuller country picture.

Outlook

Cannabinol has no independent Belgian story and is unlikely to acquire one. It will follow whatever happens to cannabis-derived extracts as a class, which in Belgium means the food-law position and, at EU level, the novel food question.

The one thing that could give CBN a separate trajectory is a substance-specific classification at EU level, as happened with CBD at ECHA. Nothing suggests that is underway.

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