UK moves to create legal market for CBD products, while the EU still lags behind
The issue of Novel Food applications for CBD could not be farther apart than they currently are with regards to the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) in the European Union and the FSA (Food Standards Agency) in the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom left the European Union and thus their Novel Food applications are administered by the FSA, which has notably taken a different path. From a financial point of view, their path has managed the Novel Food application process, while not hindering the livelihoods and incomes of CBD products producers, CBD shops, or R&D and innovation. In other words, CBD producers and shops are still making money!
What makes the UK CBD market so robust is that the FSA allows products to be sold as long as they were on the market prior to February 13, 2020 and are linked to applications submitted before March 31, 2021. As a result, despite closing its public list to new CBD products, every company that claimed they were previously on market, in essences, gained a form of pre-approval. Not surprising, the FSA was flooded with applications – and many of these product producers were allowed to remain in the market, providing that they were compliant with the specifications of their novel food applications.
Currently, some 11,000 products worth a projected 1 billion GBPin revenue remain on the FSA list, having passed this “pre-validation” while the FSA awaits the final toxicology report. This pre-validation status is incumbent upon a toxicology report, and it remains to be seen how many companies are able to produce such a report.
This managed approach enables companies to continue trading and investing, unlike in the EU, where regulatory uncertainty has halted progress. By maintaining a structured but open CBD market, the UK offers small and medium enterprises (SMEs) a functioning economic environment, while avoiding the regulatory vacuum seen in the EU. In contrast, the EU’s paused EFSA evaluations and lack of harmonized enforcement have pushed many SMEs to abandon the EU market entirely or relocate operations abroad.
What makes the UK’s FSA so uniquely different from the EFSA has also been their willingness to engage with industry stakeholders, including consultations, data-sharing initiatives, roundtables, and a genuine attempt to understand the evolving CBD market. While the system is not perfect, this dialogue fosters trust and signals potential for future reform - something the EU has largely failed to provide.
By contrast in the EU, the ire over ever-changing goal posts fostered by the EFSA charged with overseeing the Novel Food application process has gone so far as to prompt stakeholder industries to give a signed statement to European Commission.
The EIHA, as an EFSA stakeholder, has joined forces with over 20 agri-food and biotech organizations to co-sign a powerful open letter addressed to the EFSA. These organizations include:
European Industrial Hemp Association
European Federation of Food Safety Consultants
FEFAC
Industrial Minerals Association Europe
Food Supplements Europe
Euroseeds
Ipiff
CropLife Europe
EFFA
FoodDrinkEurope
IOFI
EuropaBio
EU Specialty Food Ingredients
FEFANA, Specialty Feed Ingredients Industry
EMFEMA
AESGP
EACL
FEDIAF, EuropeanPetFood
Ebic, European Biostimulants Industry Council
NIA Nanotechnology Industries Association
Caobisco
Ipa Europe
AMFEP
IBMA
If organizations such as these are interested in the Novel Food application process and you still haven’t given this much thought, I invite you to email me: gmp@cbd-hub-international.com
This collective effort highlights a shared concern that the current regulatory inefficiencies and delays at EFSA pose a growing threat to innovation, investment, and competitiveness across the EU food and feed sectors — including hemp.
And while all the signatories believe that a timely and science-driven EFSA is not only essential for consumer safety but also for securing Europe's leadership in sustainable and innovative agri-food production, it is meaningless if nothing actually gets done.
What is perhaps so irksome if that the stated purpose of the EU is to foster economic growth and create a more efficient and competitive market for companies by removing barriers to trade, promoting free movement of goods, services, capital, and people, and establishing common standards and regulations. This noble goal was agreed upon by all 27 member states because by harmonizing standards and regulations, and removing barriers to trade, promoting free movement of goods, services, capital, and people, would make it easier to attract investors into the EU, for companies to operate across borders and for consumers to access a wider range of safe products and services. In a nut shell: the goal is to make more money!
And yet, we Europeans are faced with rouge states like Italy declaring a total ban overnight and Austria claiming that hemp flowers can only be sold in tobacco shops- both decisions affecting livelihoods and businesses literally overnight.
In the case of Italy, this sudden criminalization of a legal and regulated sector was previously adjudicated by the European Court of Justice declaring that hemp plants are a legal crop as long as 0.3% THC is not exceeded. Moreover, Farmers receive a subsidy as long as the plant does not exceed 0.3% THC on the field. This decision led to the European Commission issuing a legally binding decision declaring the CBD is not a narcotic and can be traded legally between EU member states.
Equally deplorable, Austria announced from one day to the next that CBD shops could not sell flowers, causing severe economic damage to entrepreneurs who signed leases, bought stock, and made business plans based on projections over years, thus leaving them in debt for products they could not sell.
Already in 2018, Flowery Field left Austria to grow CBD plants in Italy to escape excessive Austrian legal entanglements and harassment. Many Italian firms are now leaving Italy and moving to Czech Republic for the same reason. Recently, as a result of the Austrian move to put all CBD flowers in tobacco shops, several CBD producers have packed up and moved to Germany. Companies are fleeing from one jurisdiction to another in conflict with the very stated goals purported by the European Union to fostering economic growth and create a more efficient and competitive market for companies by removing barriers to trade, promoting free movement of goods, services, capital, and people, and establishing common standards and regulations.
Meanwhile, Germany seeks to legalize cannabis, while Austria is hell bent on slowing down border traffic to search automobiles for the most likely popular German illegal import – cannabis. And the Czech Republic will soon legalize cannabis as well. Austria will find itself surrounded by countries where cannabis is legal. Will Austria begin spending tax payer money and slowing traffic to do border checks? Wouldn’t Austria better benefit from increased tax revenue associated with legal sales of cannabis?
Which brings us to ask the question, “are our bureaucrats aware that businesses need to make money in order to pay taxes!”
Recently the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) announced that important updates regarding its CBD public list guidelines, which were published on 1. July 2025. These updates may impact CBD product manufacturers, retailers, and brand owners listed on the Public List. The FSA announced that these are guidelines that are not mandatory and will not come into force for now, but companies are highly advised to follow them:
· A safe limit for THC has been set at 1 µg/kg bw/day (0.07 mg/day for a 70 kg adult).
· The recommended maximum daily intake of CBD remains 10 mg/day.
· While not mandatory, these limits are highly recommended. Companies are expected to relabel and/or reformulate their products accordingly. Products updated in line with these limits will be considered “new products,” and the FSA will update the public list entries approximately every four months. If you plan to change labels or reformulate, please inform the FSA as soon as possible to facilitate timely updates.
Important to note that the FSA also recognizes that some companies may have significant stock or require additional time to adapt, so the FSA will allow remaining stock to be sold without prejudice.
While the UK’s FSA is moving forward with safety standards and careful not to destroy business momentum and even careful not to make pronouncements and cause economic damage to companies, the EU’s overly politicized and fragmented approach continues to destroy entrepreneurship, disproportionately harming SMEs that cannot afford the cost or complexity of navigating 27 inconsistent national regulations.
We need an EFSA that works with the complying community and not against it. We need EU member states to stop treating their prospective states like a fiefdom. We are a “union” and we should expect our politicians, courts, and administrators to remember that. We are the EU!
If you are interested in the Novel Food application process, please note that I can offer you a sub license for your products. The sub license fee is based on the amount of CBD isolate used in the making of your product and the license is only valid when you purchase CBD isolate from a Novel Food license holder. For more information, email me: gmp@cbd-hub-international.com
Written by Shelley Stark