Is CBN legal in Italy?

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.

Italy has no CBN-specific rule. The Ministerial Decree of 27 June 2024 names cannabidiol only, and CBN is not separately scheduled under Presidential Decree 309/1990.

That does not place CBN outside the Italian prohibition. Article 2(3-bis) of Law 242/2016, inserted by Article 18 of Decree-Law 48/2025 and converted by Law 80/2025, attaches to inflorescence-derived extracts, resins and oils as a category rather than to any named cannabinoid. A full-spectrum extract containing CBN falls inside it on identical terms to one containing CBD, and shipping or delivering it carries the criminal penalties of Title VIII of Presidential Decree 309/1990.

No Italian source addressing CBN by name was located. That absence is read cautiously - as capture by the category, not as an exemption.

Do we sell here?

No.

The same law that stops us selling CBD in Italy covers CBN too - the prohibition applies to cannabis-derived extracts as a category, not to any named cannabinoid, so it catches CBN on identical terms. We don't ship CBN-containing products to Italy for the same reason.

Outlook

CBN's position in Italy will be settled by whatever happens to CBD, not separately. No Italian rule names CBN, and the prohibition that matters is written around cannabis-derived material rather than around any particular cannabinoid, so nothing about CBN's own profile changes the answer. The thing to watch is whether the pending EU court answer is framed around cannabidiol specifically or around cannabis derivatives as a class - a class-level ruling would resolve CBN at the same time.

Timeline

April 2025

Article 18 of Decree-Law 48/2025 inserts Article 2(3-bis) into Law 242/2016, prohibiting the import, transfer, processing, distribution, sale, transport, sending, shipping and delivery of hemp inflorescences and of products containing or consisting of them, including extracts, resins and oils derived from them, under the criminal penalties of Presidential Decree 309/1990. Converted without amendment by Law 80/2025.

Gazzetta Ufficiale

November 2025

Consiglio di Stato order 8813/2025 refers questions to the Court of Justice of the EU on whether Italian law may bar leaves, flowers, oil and resin derived from certified low-THC hemp varieties.

Consiglio di Stato

December 2025

The Brindisi criminal court refers Article 18 of Decree-Law 48/2025 to the Italian Constitutional Court, questioning its compatibility with constitutional guarantees including the requirement that a criminal offence involve actual harm.

Tribunale di Brindisi, sez. GIP-GUP (via Misterlex)

June 2026

The Liguria regional administrative court suspends a mayoral order closing CBD vending machines in Ventimiglia, holding that a ban requires concrete proof of psychoactive effect - one of several local enforcement measures struck down without disturbing the underlying statute.

Il Fatto Quotidiano