Is CBN legal in Bulgaria?

Formal status

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 Bulgarian source addresses CBN specifically - not in food safety agency material, enforcement reporting, or national legislation. The agency's position is worded around cannabinoids as a group rather than around CBD by name, so it reads across to CBN on its own terms.

This is read-across from the Bulgarian cannabinoid position rather than an independent Bulgarian determination, and is treated as such.

Do we sell here?

Yes, for now: Sleep spray, Sleep capsules.

CBN sits in exactly the same position as CBD here. Bulgarian authorities address cannabinoids as a group rather than naming individual ones, so nothing separates the two, and anything that changed our view on CBD would change it here too.

Outlook

There is no Bulgarian coverage of CBN at all, so its position will follow whatever happens to CBD. Because Bulgarian statements are framed around cannabinoids as a group rather than naming individual compounds, a CBN-forward formulation would gain nothing here.

Timeline

June 2019

Reporting that Bulgaria had become the first EU country to permit free sale of CBD is clarified: the Free Sale Certificate was company-specific, issued jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture and the food safety agency, and worked by classifying the products as traditional rather than novel foods.

NutraIngredients

April 2024

Parliament rejects a bill that would have permitted industrial hemp to be processed in Bulgaria in addition to being grown. The Customs Agency objected to a proposed 1% THC threshold below which hemp would not be treated as a narcotic. Cultivation remains lawful; domestic processing does not.

Cannabis Law Report

July 2024

A regional directorate of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency halts the sale of hemp-flavoured gums and energy drinks in a Sofia shop, recording THC content above the 0.2% threshold. An official states that cannabinoids are forbidden as ingredients in food and that the abbreviation "CBD" should not appear on a food label.

Tribune.bg

May 2026

The Customs Agency reports Operation Hydra: more than 1,000 courier parcels containing narcotics, ordered online via EU-based platforms, intercepted in under two weeks across express courier terminals. Officials state that all parcels ordered through online platforms are inspected. The seizures were narcotics concealed in vapes, sweets and baked goods; no cannabinoid supplement was reported among them.

National Customs Agency