CBD seeds in France: legal to buy, illegal to plant

A seed has no flower and no resin: its value is genetic. That is what international law retains. Article 1 of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs defines cannabis as "the flowering or fruiting tops of the cannabis plant (excluding the seeds and leaves when not accompanied by the tops)". Its article 28 adds that the Convention does not apply to growing cannabis "exclusively for industrial purposes (fibre and seed)".

Shops rely on this exclusion. A written question from Senator Pierre Charon, published on 1 April 2021, describes the practice: seeds sold "for genetic conservation", with a note that germinating them in France is strictly forbidden. The government never answered, and the question lapsed.

Hemp seeds also have a food use. In May 2026, the French Ministry of Agriculture confirmed that seeds, their derivatives such as the oil, and leaves for infusion remain authorised as food, provided they contain no added cannabinoid extract and meet the THC limits. Our article on the difference between CBD oil and hemp seed oil covers this point.

The Public Health Code sets the principle. Its article R. 5132-86 prohibits the production, including the cultivation, of "cannabis, its plant and its resin". Hemp can only be grown by way of exemption, under the conditions of the order of 30 December 2021. Its article 1 lists them:

"Only active farmers within the meaning of the European and national rules in force may grow hemp flowers and leaves."

The same article requires plants grown from certified seed and states: "The sale of plants and the practice of taking cuttings are prohibited." The variety must be listed in the catalogue and contain at most 0.30% Δ⁹-THC. In December 2022, the Conseil d'État annulled the ban on selling flowers to consumers, but it left these cultivation rules in place. Our article on the order that tried to ban flowers traces the episode.

A private individual meets none of these conditions. A seed becomes a plant when it germinates: that is where the act changes in nature.

The label "collector's seeds" describes the only use the law leaves to an individual: keeping without sowing. It protects the seller, not the buyer. No text creates a collector status, and the intention stated at the time of purchase changes nothing about how a cultivation is classified.

The same reasoning applies to the variety. A seed from a variety listed in the catalogue and sown on a balcony is still unauthorised cultivation, because the person sowing is not an active farmer and the seed is outside the certified chain. To understand why hemp and cannabis fall under opposite regimes although they are the same species, read our article on hemp and recreational cannabis.

The Criminal Code has no lighter regime for small-scale growing. Growing cannabis without authorisation is producing a controlled drug: article 222-35 provides for 20 years' imprisonment and a €7,500,000 fine, as Drogues Info Service points out. In practice, judges often reclassify personal growing under article 222-37, which provides for 10 years in prison and the same maximum fine.

A single plant is enough for the offence, and the THC content of the variety makes no difference: the law punishes growing outside the framework, not a chemical profile.

The European Commission states that the common catalogue of varieties listed 116 hemp varieties in 2024, all under 0.3% THC. Active farmers choose among them and buy certified seed, meaning controlled lots whose genetic identity is guaranteed.

This chain explains the ban on cuttings. A cutting multiplies outside the seed chain, and nobody can then guarantee that it belongs to the declared variety. Our article on the varieties in the EU catalogue describes how a variety gets listed.

For an individual, the compliant route is to buy the finished product rather than the seed to plant. CBD flowers come from varieties grown by farmers, and their compliance can be checked on a laboratory analysis: Δ⁹-THC under 0.30%, THCA, no controlled cannabinoids. The threshold and how it is measured are explained in our article on the legal THC limit, and the overall framework in our overview of CBD regulation in 2026.