French CBD producers appeal to the French Constitutional Council

A new step in the The CBD's Long Legal Battle in France. The French Association of Cannabinoid Producers (AFPC) will soon appear before the Constitutional Council as part of a Priority Preliminary Ruling on Constitutionality. Hemp producers, represented by attorney Frédéric Scanvic, seek to repeal the order of August 22, 1990, which prohibits the cultivation of the flower, limits the THC content to 0.2 %, and specifies the permitted hemp varieties.

«As things stand, we have a catalog of varieties that are completely unsuitable for flower production, and we don’t have authorization to harvest the flowers. Furthermore, the 0.2 % THC limit is nonsense.», says François Piotrowski, president of the PSAC.

This text is a major source of frustration for French hemp farmers, since it prohibits them from growing hemp for CBD on French soil… even though European law permits the import of CBD flowers from other European Union countries. «It's like telling bakers to buy their baguettes in Italy so they can sell them in France!», ," Piotrowski snapped.

Could be very lucrative

To repeal this law, the PSAC’s lawyer chose a very technical line of argument… but one that could pay off big. According to the Public Health Code, the director of the National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety (ANSM) must decide what constitutes a narcotic. The problem is: «In law, this is called negative incompetence.", ," adds Frédéric Scanvic. I don't mind if the director of the ANSM makes the decision. But limits need to be set. The legislature [Parliament] ‘I can't tell the administrative authority, ’Do my job.» So, in my view, the law is unconstitutional."

If the nine members of the Constitutional Council rule in his favor, then «The decree is issued.». The government will therefore have to draft a new law to regulate cannabis use. If the Council opposes this, then the PSAC and its attorney will take the matter to the Council of State. «In that case, I will allege a violation of EU law, since the law is not in compliance with the Kanavape ruling« , according to Frédéric Scanvic.

The Constitutional Council is expected to issue its ruling within three months. In the meantime, the French government continues to work on a new decree to regulate CBD production in France. According to the draft sent to the European Commission, the text plans to authorize the harvesting of the flower, but not its sale in its raw form to the public.