Is THC legal in Italy?

Formal status

The general EU threshold for hemp is 0.3% THC (Regulation (EU) 2021/2115), and it applies to the crop in cultivation rather than to finished products.

Law 242/2016 sets 0.2% for the standing crop with tolerance to 0.6% - again, the plant rather than the product. For food, the Ministerial Decree of 4 November 2019 sets a maximum total THC of 2.0 mg/kg for supplements containing hemp-derived foods, but Annex I defines "hemp-derived foods" exhaustively as seeds, seed flour and seed oil, so that limit engages only where the formulation actually contains one of them.

The constraint that actually operates in Italy is not a THC number at all. Article 2(3-bis) of Law 242/2016, inserted by Article 18 of Decree-Law 48/2025 and converted by Law 80/2025, prohibits the import, transport, shipping and delivery of inflorescence-derived extracts, resins and oils regardless of their THC content, under the criminal penalties of Presidential Decree 309/1990. Trace THC in a full-spectrum extract is caught because the extract is caught, not because of the amount present.

Do we sell here?

No.

Italy's finished-product THC threshold isn't the reason we don't sell here - our formula runs well under it. The actual barrier is the same one affecting CBD and CBN: Italian law prohibits shipping cannabis-derived extracts into the country regardless of THC content, so trace THC in a full-spectrum extract is caught by that rule rather than by any dose limit.

Outlook

Nothing is currently being litigated about Italy's 2019 THC food limits, and they are not the reason this product cannot be shipped to Italy. If Italy's position on cannabis extracts ever changes, the detail that will matter is that Italy measures total THC - including THCA - as a plain arithmetic sum, which is stricter than the standard EU calculation. A certificate reporting delta-9 THC alone would not be sufficient evidence of compliance.

Timeline

December 2016

Law 242/2016 regulates hemp cultivation at 0.2% THC with tolerance to 0.6% - a threshold for the standing crop, not for finished products.

Camera dei Deputati

November 2019

Ministry of Health decree sets maximum total THC in hemp foods: 2.0 mg/kg for supplements containing hemp-derived foods and for seeds and flour, 5.0 mg/kg for hemp seed oil. Italy sums delta-9 THC and THCA directly, without the standard conversion factor.

Gazzetta Ufficiale

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