CBD sale prices: the 30-day rule, Black Friday included
Since 28 May 2022, every price reduction announced in France must show the prior price: the lowest price the seller charged in the 30 days before the discount. The rule applies online and in shops, to CBD as to any other product. It tells you whether a discount is real. Whether the product is compliant is a separate question, answered by the batch analysis.
Key takeaways
- Only the lowest price of the last 30 days may be crossed out; a "usual" price or a recommended retail price does not qualify.
- When Cyber Monday follows Black Friday, the Black Friday price becomes its reference.
- A promo code open to everyone counts as a price reduction announcement. A personal loyalty discount does not.
- Showing a false reference price is a misleading commercial practice, punishable online by up to 5 years in prison and a €750,000 fine.
- THC content and production date appear on the label and the batch certificate; the discount tells you neither.
The rule: the crossed-out price is the lowest of the last 30 days
Article L112-1-1 of the French Consumer Code runs to five short paragraphs. Ordinance no. 2021-1734 of 22 December 2021 created it to transpose Directive (EU) 2019/2161 of 27 November 2019, the so-called "Omnibus" directive. The article has applied since 28 May 2022.
| Paragraph | What the text says | What it changes on screen |
|---|---|---|
| I, 1 | The announcement states the prior price charged before the reduction | A percentage alone, with no starting price, is not enough |
| I, 2 | That price is the lowest charged to all consumers over the last 30 days | A low price held for a single day in the window becomes the reference |
| I, 3 | For successive reductions during a set period, the reference stays the price before the first one | A discount that goes from 10 to 30% keeps the same starting point |
| I, 4 | Perishable goods likely to deteriorate quickly are excluded | A dried flower or an oil is unlikely to fall under this exception |
| II | Comparisons with other traders' prices are not covered | Comparing is not reducing, and must be presented as such |
No display format is imposed. In its practical guide on price reduction announcements, the French consumer authority (DGCCRF) lets the seller show an amount, a percentage or a crossed-out price, provided the prior price appears and is calculated correctly.
Worked example: a "20% off" that saves nothing
Consider a fictional hash priced at €40 for 33 days, then raised to €50 a week before a sale. On day 0 the shop shows "20% off", crosses out €50 and sells at €40.
Both prices fall inside the 30-day window. The lower one, €40, is the price that has to be crossed out, which makes the real reduction zero and the announcement unlawful. A recommended retail price shown as the prior price fails for the same reason. The seller never charged that manufacturer's suggested price, so it comes under the rules on comparisons.
A volume price list published all year round does not count as a price reduction announcement. Take a fictional rate of €7 per gram at the 5 g tier and €5 at the 25 g tier: these are two selling prices, and neither is a discount. Tiers like these are best judged by the price per gram, or per milligram of cannabinoid, as in our article on the price of CBD hash per gram.
Black Friday, promo codes, loyalty: what the rule covers
In December 2021 the European Commission published guidance on Article 6a of the Price Indication Directive, which is the article France transposed. The guidance settles several cases that come back every November.
| Situation | 30-day rule? | What the guidance says |
|---|---|---|
| "Black Friday offer" with no percentage | Yes | An announcement that gives the impression of a reduction must show the prior price |
| Cyber Monday after a Black Friday | Yes | The reference includes the reduced price of the previous campaign |
| Discount that deepens without interruption | Yes, with a single starting point | Only if the price never went back up between steps |
| Promo code open to everyone | Yes | "20% off with code XYZ today" is a price reduction announcement |
| Personal voucher after a purchase | No | Individual discount, not announced to the public |
| "30% off when you buy three" | No | Conditional offer, judged under the rules on misleading practices |
The 2026 calendar shows the second case at work: Black Friday falls on Friday 27 November, Cyber Monday on Monday 30 November. If a product sells at €30 on the 27th, it cannot show "25% off" on the 30th by crossing out its October price of €40, because the €30 price falls within the previous 30 days.
What a discount does not tell you about the product
A reference price can be perfectly lawful and still guarantee nothing about composition. In a press release of 19 June 2025, the French health agencies ANSES and ANSM cite a 2023 study by three addiction monitoring centres: 8 CBD products out of 10 did not contain the CBD content stated on their label. Discount or not, four checks still apply.
- The batch: the certificate of analysis must carry the number of the batch on sale and show Δ⁹-THC at no more than 0.30%. Our guide on how to read a certificate of analysis goes through each line.
- Banned molecules: after HHC in 2023, ANSM classified H4CBD, THCP and other derivatives as narcotics from 3 June 2024. These products cannot be sold at any price.
- The date: a clearance sale may be a way to move oils close to their best-before date. Our article on the best-before date of a flower, hash or oil explains how to read it.
- The format: on 20 May 2026 the French Ministry of Agriculture restated that foods containing CBD are illegal and must be withdrawn from the market. Discounted CBD sweets or drinks are, before anything else, products that should no longer be on sale.
Checking an announcement in four steps
Start with the announcement itself, which must show the prior price. A bare percentage, or a crossed-out price you cannot read, already fails the first requirement.
Then date the window. The 30 days run back from the first day of the reduction, whatever the day of your visit. A sale launched on the 1st of the month is checked against the previous month.
Next, look for a trace of the earlier price. Your screenshots, order emails and the seller's newsletters all carry dates, and the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine sometimes keeps older versions of a product page. None of these sources is complete, so finding no trace proves nothing.
Finally, report any clear gap. The DGCCRF runs the SignalConso platform, which accepts reports about prices and promotions. Include the date, a screenshot of the page and, if you have it, your record of the prior price.
For the seller, the risk is criminal. Among misleading commercial practices, Article L121-2 of the Consumer Code lists those relating to "the promotional character of the price, in particular price reductions" within the meaning of Article L112-1-1. Article L132-2 sets the penalty at 2 years in prison and a €300,000 fine. When the offence is committed through a website or digital medium, this rises to 5 years and €750,000. The fine can also reach 10% of average annual turnover.
To judge a price outside any sale, use the ranges in CBD prices in France in 2026, a benchmark that does not depend on discounts.
Frequently asked questions
The prior price within the meaning of Article L112-1-1, that is, the lowest price the seller charged to all consumers in the 30 days before the reduction. A manufacturer's recommended price does not qualify, and neither does a "usually seen" price.
Yes, if the code is open to everyone or to most customers, for example when it is shown on the home page for a weekend. The rule does not cover a voucher sent to one customer after a purchase, or a long-running loyalty benefit.
No. Under the Commission's guidance, conditional offers of this kind fall outside the 30-day rule. The ban on misleading practices still applies to them, so the unit price shown has to be accurate.
Use SignalConso, which passes reports on to the DGCCRF. Include the date of the announcement, a screenshot and, where you can, a dated record of the price charged over the previous 30 days.
The discount alone does not make it so. Compliance has nothing to do with price and is judged on the batch certificate: Δ⁹-THC no higher than 0.30%, no molecule classified as a narcotic, and a batch number that matches the product sold. The laboratory page describes what an analysis measures.
Written by the Phytogrammes team
Each journal article draws on cited primary sources: ANSM, EFSA, EUR-Lex and peer-reviewed publications. Product profiles are distinguished from documented laboratory results. Our approach.
Article published on . CBD is not a medicine.