CBD in Switzerland and France: two thresholds that do not overlap

The reference document is an enforcement aid published jointly by Swissmedic, the Federal Office of Public Health, the Federal Food Safety Office and the associations of pharmacists and cantonal chemists. Version 8.0 is dated 1 May 2025.

It states the rule in a single sentence: cannabis and cannabis-based preparations whose total THC content is below 1.0% are not considered narcotics within the meaning of the ordinance on narcotic substance schedules.

Two important qualifications accompany that threshold. The reform of 1 August 2022, which lifted the ban on cannabis for medical use in the narcotics act, did not change the 1.0% limit value. And non-medical use of products reaching or exceeding 1.0% remains prohibited in Switzerland. The country is therefore not the free territory it is sometimes described as.

In France, the order of 30 December 2021 authorises the cultivation, import, export and industrial and commercial use only of varieties of Cannabis sativa L. whose delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol content is no higher than 0.30%, provided they are listed in the European common catalogue or the French official catalogue, and that the flowers and leaves come from certified seed.

On 29 December 2022 the Conseil d'État annulled the provision of that same order banning the sale of flowers and leaves to consumers, holding in particular that CBD has no psychotropic effect and does not cause dependence, and that rapid tests make monitoring possible, which made a general and absolute ban disproportionate. We look at where this threshold came from in our article on the 0.3% THC threshold.

This is the point almost nobody raises, and it matters more than the apparent difference between 1% and 0.3%.

The Swiss text speaks of "total THC content", meaning THC plus its converted acid form. The French text speaks of "delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol content". These are not the same quantities. For an identical composition, a total THC measurement gives a higher value than a measurement of delta-9 alone. The real gap between the two regimes is therefore narrower than the 1-to-3 ratio suggested by the raw figures, but it persists, and it works in the direction of French strictness.

The practical consequence follows from the two texts, without any authority spelling it out in these terms: a Swiss flower testing, say, at 0.8% total THC exceeds the French threshold and falls outside the French authorisation regime.

Switzerland does not belong to the European customs union. For customs purposes it is a third country, which changes everything compared with a journey between France and Germany.

The allowances that apply on return from a third country are modest. The French customs authority states a value allowance of 430 euros per traveller aged 15 or over arriving by air or sea, 300 euros by other means of transport, and 150 euros for those under 15. For cross-border workers, these amounts fall to 75 euros and 40 euros.

One point of honesty: that page deals with goods, tobacco and alcohol, and says nothing about CBD. It gives the general framework, not an authorisation. Also worth noting, in the Swiss federal document: Swissmedic issues no certificate of non-objection for the import or export of cannabis below 1.0% total THC, since these substances fall internationally under the 1961 narcotics convention. Switzerland itself therefore does not make it easy to take them out.

Buying legally in Switzerland does not make the product lawful in France. The two thresholds do not overlap, the measurement methods differ, and the border is an external customs border. Our articles on CBD abroad and on flying with CBD set out the useful checks, and our comparison with the German market shows that one and the same product can receive three different treatments in three neighbouring countries.

Can you bring Swiss CBD back into France?

The product must comply with French law to be held and used there, meaning it must come from an authorised variety and test at no more than 0.30% delta-9-THC. Yet the Swiss threshold of 1.0% relates to total THC, a different and broader quantity. A product bought legally in Switzerland may therefore exceed the French threshold. As Switzerland is a third country, the usual customs allowances also apply on the way back.

Why does Switzerland allow 1% THC and France 0.3%?

These are two independent legal constructions. Switzerland, outside the European Union, sets the threshold in its ordinance on narcotic substance schedules. France applies a 0.30% threshold derived from its 2021 order, aligned with the European agricultural threshold adopted by regulation (EU) 2021/2115 for eligible areas. The two systems have neither the same source nor the same purpose.

Is CBD a narcotic in Switzerland?

No. Swissmedic states that CBD is not subject to the narcotics act, as it has no psychoactive effect comparable to that of THC. The 1.0% threshold therefore does not relate to cannabidiol but to the product's total THC content. Non-medical use of products reaching that threshold remains prohibited in Switzerland.