Opening a CBD shop in France in 2026: the rules to check

Opening a CBD shop requires no specific authorisation. The set-up follows ordinary business law: legal form, registration and declaration of activity. Since 1 January 2023, all of these steps go through the business formalities portal run by INPI, the French intellectual property office.

The products are governed by the order of 30 December 2021. It limits cultivation and industrial use to hemp varieties listed in the official catalogues and grown from certified seed, and it caps Δ⁹-THC at 0.30%, in the plant and in finished products alike. Raw flowers can be sold since the Conseil d'État, France's highest administrative court, annulled their ban on 29 December 2022. Our article on the order banning CBD flowers covers that decision.

The rules keep moving. Over four years, HHC, H4CBD and THCP became narcotics, disposable vapes were banned and CBD foods were withdrawn. Plan to review your product range whenever a new text comes out.

Which rule applies depends on the product category, whatever the molecule. The table sums up the situation on 23 September 2026.

For foods, the Ministry of Agriculture published a clarification on 20 May 2026. Foods containing CBD are not authorised under the EU novel food regulation and have to be withdrawn from the market, supplements included. Only hemp seeds, their derivatives such as seed oil, and leaves meant for infusion can still be sold, without any cannabinoid-enriched extract.

On semi-synthetic cannabinoids, the ANSM, France's medicines agency, classed HHC as a narcotic from 13 June 2023, then H4CBD, THCP and other derivatives from 3 June 2024. A seller who holds them risks prosecution under drug law. Our article on the disposable vape ban explains which vape formats are still on sale.

A retailer's main danger is selling an illegal product without knowing it; paperwork comes second. In 2022 and 2023, a study funded by MILDECA, the French government's drug policy body, and run by addiction-monitoring centres bought and tested CBD products. Its December 2023 report gives figures every professional buyer should know.

Among 223 products sold as CBD, 12.6% contained more than 0.3% THC, and 4% held HHC or H4CBD that the label did not mention. The share above the limit grew from 8% of the 65 purchases made in 2022 to 14.5% of the 158 made in 2023. The authors point out that these illegal products came from every channel: CBD shops, websites, pharmacies and tobacconists.

The same report found that, of six products bought again from one website a few months apart, five showed a CBD content that differed by more than 20%. A certificate of analysis therefore covers one batch and says nothing about the brand as a whole. Ask for it with every order. Check that the batch number matches the delivery, that the lab is accredited for the test and that semi-synthetic cannabinoids were screened for. Our guide to reading a certificate of analysis covers each line, and our article on choosing a wholesaler lists the documents to ask for.

Health promises are forbidden. The French public health code defines a medicine as any substance presented as having curative or preventive properties with regard to diseases. A poster promising better sleep or less pain thus turns the product, in law, into a medicine sold without authorisation.

Recreational cannabis vocabulary calls for the same care, since it can be read as incitement to drug use. Our article on CBD advertising covers the four texts that apply and their penalties. For packaging, CBD product labelling varies with the format, and a cosmetic carries different statements from a flower. An online shop must also show the distance-selling statements listed in our article on what a CBD website must display.

Inspectors look at two things: what you sell and what you say. According to the 20 May 2026 clarification, checks are being stepped up in 2026 through the departmental anti-fraud committees. Since 2023, hemp professionals have been told about each control plan.

Three habits reduce the risk. Keep the certificate for each batch received, filed with the invoice that links it to the product. Keep a register of the batches sold, so you can withdraw a product if a supplier flags a problem. Train your staff on the permitted wording as well, since a sentence spoken at the counter binds the shop as much as a label does. Our article on CBD product recalls shows how to trace a batch number.