Is CBD legal in Germany?

Formal status

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.

Germany applies that strictly and adds a second national layer. BVL's standing position is that it knows of no configuration in which CBD in foods, including food supplements, would be marketable. Separately, CBD has sat in Annex 1 of the AMVV since 1 October 2016, so a CBD product presented with therapeutic or functional claims can be reclassified as a prescription-only medicine - the Cologne administrative court did exactly that to CBD drops sold as a supplement in 2022, and the Baden-Wuerttemberg higher administrative court held oral CBD oils to be unauthorised novel foods in 2023.

Classification is a Laender competence; BVL expressly disclaims binding authority.

Do we sell here?

Yes, for now: Sleep spray, Sleep capsules.

Germany hasn't authorised CBD as a food ingredient - and nor has any other EU country, so this is the unresolved EU-wide position rather than something specifically German. Germany does enforce it more actively than most, through its state food authorities, and we've found no case of that enforcement reaching sellers shipping in from another EU country the way we do.

That's a monitored judgement rather than a settled position, and we'll change where we ship if it changes.

Outlook

The question to watch is which reference value German state labs anchor to. Baden-Wuerttemberg's assessments have used the UK's 10 mg/day figure rather than EFSA's provisional one; a switch would move typical doses from a small multiple of the reference to a large one.

Separately, more than a hundred novel food applications are pending at EU level with proceedings suspended pending safety data, and that process is what would actually resolve the position.

Timeline

October 2016

CBD is added to Annex 1 of the AMVV, making it prescription-only when placed on the market as a medicinal product. Sale without therapeutic or functional claims may remain outside the medicines route, so the listing operates on presentation rather than categorically.

Deutscher Hanfverband

March 2022

The Cologne Administrative Court (7 K 954/20) classifies CBD drops marketed as a food supplement as a prescription-requiring medicinal product, turning on how the product was presented rather than on its CBD content.

Verbraucherzentrale

August 2023

The Baden-Wuerttemberg Higher Administrative Court (9 S 969/23) holds that oral CBD oils are unauthorised novel foods - the most directly on-point German ruling for an orally administered CBD product.

Verbraucherzentrale

April 2024

The KCanG enters into force. BVL confirms that the commercial hemp exemption at 0.3% THC applies only to trade without intoxication potential for commercial or scientific purposes, and does not make cannabinoid-containing foods marketable.

Bundesamt fuer Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit (BVL)

February 2025

Baden-Wuerttemberg's state laboratories report on 72 CBD and cannabinoid-extract products sampled in 2023-24: all 72 objected to as unauthorised novel food, and 46 additionally classed as injurious to health. Online shops are named as the main sales channel.

Untersuchungsaemter Baden-Wuerttemberg

April 2025

BVL updates its FAQ, restating that it knows of no configuration in which CBD in foods or food supplements would be marketable, and that safety assessment of cannabinoids other than CBD falls to the operator placing the product on the market.

Bundesamt fuer Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit (BVL)

March 2026

More than 100 CBD novel food applications are pending at EU level, 19 validated and under EFSA review, with proceedings suspended pending safety data. A 2024 BfR survey is reported as having detected THC in 20 of 26 CBD oils tested.

Verbraucherzentrale