CBD flowers in Italy: the 2025 ban before the EU Court

Decree-Law No. 48 of 11 April 2025, known as the "security decree", was converted with amendments by Law No. 80 of 9 June 2025. Article 18 takes out of the hemp law's scope every product made of inflorescences, even semi-processed, dried or shredded, and the extracts, resins and oils derived from them. Such products now come under the consolidated drugs law, Presidential Decree No. 309 of 1990.

Their processing, distribution, trade, transport, sending, delivery and import are all banned, as summarised by the Italian Council of State in its note of 1 December 2025. The same note says that growing authorised varieties for leaves and seeds remains lawful.

Law No. 242 of 2 December 2016 let farmers grow hemp varieties from the EU catalogue without prior authorisation. It sets a THC level of 0.2% in the crop and a tolerance up to 0.6% within which the farmer bears no liability. The law was silent on selling flowers, and "cannabis light" shops opened in that gap.

On 30 May 2019 the United Sections of the Court of Cassation settled the question in ruling No. 30475, published on 10 July 2019. As the Council of State summarises it, selling leaves, inflorescences, oil or resin to the public is still an offence under Article 73 of the drugs law, even below the thresholds of the 2016 law. The exception is products that, in practice, have no narcotic or psychotropic effect at all. A seller is judged on the real effect of the product sold, and the farming threshold offers no protection.

The case started with an Agriculture Ministry order of 21 January 2022 on medicinal plants, which left only hemp seeds under the free regime and moved leaves and flowers into the drugs regime. After the Lazio regional administrative court annulled the order, the ministries appealed.

In order No. 8813 of 11 November 2025, the sixth section of the Council of State asked the Court of Justice of the European Union two questions:

1. The first concerns the common agricultural policy (Article 38 of the Treaty, Directive 2002/53/EC on the variety catalogue, the direct payments regulations). Does it preclude a rule banning the use of leaves, flowers, oil and resin from authorised varieties, whatever their THC level?
2. The second concerns Articles 34 to 36 of the Treaty on the free movement of goods, read with the EU food and cosmetics regulations. Do they preclude a ban on producing and selling these parts of the plant and their derivatives, CBD included?

Both questions concern Italian law up to 11 April 2025, as the Court of Cassation reads it. Even so, Luxembourg's answer will show how far a state may go against hemp listed in the EU catalogue. The case is registered as C-716/25, Società Agricola Jure, and no judgment had been delivered at this article's last update.

There is a well-known precedent. In the Kanavape judgment of 19 November 2020, the CJEU held that a member state may not ban the sale of CBD lawfully produced in another member state and extracted from the whole plant. A ban is allowed only if it is suitable for protecting public health and does not go beyond what is necessary. The Court also noted that CBD is not a narcotic drug under the 1961 UN convention. Its effects in France are detailed in our article on the Kanavape ruling.

At the Constitutional Court, the case comes from Brindisi, where the preliminary investigations judge referred Article 18 on 2 December 2025. It is entered in the register as No. 26 of 2026, according to the Court's case sheet, and the hearing is set for 21 October 2026. The judge relies in particular on Article 77 of the Constitution, which reserves decree-laws for cases of necessity and urgency, and on Articles 34 and 36 of the Treaty.

The Court of Cassation moved in 2026, when its fourth criminal section applied the 2019 test to the 2025 decree. Ruling No. 25539, reported by the journal Fuoriluogo, overturned a refusal to return products seized in Modena in December 2025. The prosecution's own expert report had found no narcotic effect. For the Court, goods cannot be kept as a narcotic once that effect has been found absent.

France also had a ban. The order of 30 December 2021 prohibited the sale of raw flowers until the Council of State struck it down on 29 December 2022. That episode is told in our article on the CBD flower ban, and the 0.30% threshold is explained in the one on the legal THC level.

In France, nothing changes. CBD flowers stay on open sale as long as their Δ⁹-THC does not exceed 0.30%, and a CJEU ruling on Italy would leave that threshold as it is.

Travel calls for care. Because Article 18 covers the transport and import of flowers, taking flowers bought in France into Italy exposes you to Italian law whatever their THC level. Our guide to flying with CBD and the one on CBD parcels from abroad cover the practical side.

Neighbouring countries each keep their own rules. Switzerland tolerates 1% THC, and Germany and Spain have their own frameworks.