Authorised hemp varieties: reading the European catalogue
Only Cannabis sativa L. varieties listed in the common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species, or in the French official catalogue, may be grown and used in France, provided their delta-9-THC content does not exceed 0.30%. That list is public and can be consulted online. What it says nothing about, on the other hand, is the content measured on the batch being sold.
Contents
The question comes up as soon as you look closely at the label on a flower or an extract: which variety did this material come from, and is that variety authorised? The answer lies in two administrative catalogues, one European, one French, and in a single paragraph of a ministerial order. This guide says where the list is, how it is updated, what a listing proves, and why the trade name printed on a product page is almost never a catalogue name.
> Key points > > - The applicable text is the arrêté du 30 décembre 2021, article 1, I. > - Two catalogues count as authorisation: the Union common catalogue and the French official catalogue. > - Any variety listed in a national catalogue joins the common catalogue. > - The European Commission counted 116 hemp varieties in the common catalogue in 2024. > - The listing bears on the seed, not on the harvest: only the batch certificate gives the measured content.
1. The rule fits in one paragraph
The arrêté du 30 décembre 2021 (the French ministerial order on hemp), made for the application of article R. 5132-86 of the code de la santé publique (the French public health code), opens cultivation, import, export and industrial and commercial use to "only varieties of Cannabis sativa L." whose delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol content "is no higher than 0.30%". Those varieties must appear in the common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species or in the French official catalogue.
The same paragraph lays down three conditions that are often forgotten by anyone who remembers only the figure:
- flowers and leaves come from certified seed;
- only active farmers may run the crop;
- the sale of plants and the taking of cuttings are prohibited.
In other words, the catalogue is not a list of retail sale authorisations: it is a list of agricultural seed. The 0.30% threshold and its history are set out in our article on the legal THC limit in France, and the question of a private individual buying seed is covered in CBD seeds and legality.
2. Where to consult the list of varieties
2.1 The European common catalogue
The common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species is governed by Council Directive 2002/53/EC. It gathers the varieties that may be marketed across the whole Union after technical examination in a member state. The European Commission publishes it in the Official Journal of the Union as successive supplements, several times a year, and makes it available in an online database, the EU Plant Variety Portal.
That portal covers three registers: agricultural species, vegetable species, fruit species. Searching is by country or organisation (32 entries, among them the member states, the CPVO, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), by species in the UPOV sense, by variety denomination, by maintainer, or by status (application, registered, withdrawn, expired). That is where you check whether a variety name really exists, and whether it is still valid.
2.2 The French official catalogue
The French official catalogue comes under the ministry responsible for agriculture, which publishes listing decisions in the Journal officiel de la République française on a proposal from the CTPS, the standing technical committee on plant breeding. GEVES handles the examination and hosts it online. The national catalogue as a whole holds around 9 000 varieties spread over 190 species, more than 100 varieties of which belong to the flax and hemp group.
Two lists coexist for arable crops: list A for varieties whose seed may be produced and marketed in France, list B for those produced in France for export to non-EU countries. A variety joins those lists only after examination of its distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) and of its agronomic, technological and environmental value (VATE).
| Criterion | Union common catalogue | French official catalogue |
|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | Directive 2002/53/EC | Ministerial decisions published in the JORF |
| Who decides | Compilation of national catalogues by the Commission | Ministry of agriculture, on a proposal from the CTPS |
| Where to consult it | The Commission's plant variety portal | GEVES online database |
| Updating | Supplements published in the Official Journal of the Union | Listing and removal orders in the JORF |
| Reach | Marketing across the whole Union | France, and by extension the Union |
The link between the two is mechanical: any variety listed in a national catalogue is taken up in the common catalogue, and may therefore be marketed across Union territory. Consulting the European catalogue is thus enough for a check, the French catalogue serving to retrieve the listing decision itself.
3. What the variety guarantees, and what it does not
A catalogue listing is a guarantee about the seed, not about the harvest. It attests that a line has been examined, that it is distinct, uniform and stable, and that official trials measured its delta-9-THC content below the regulatory threshold. It says nothing about how the crop was run, about the terroir, about the harvest date, or about which part of the plant was kept.
That is why the compliance of a finished product is never read off a variety name. It is read on the batch's certificate of analysis, where cannabinoid content is quantified by HPLC. MILDECA (the French interministerial mission for combating drugs) makes the same split: cultivation presupposes a variety listed in the common catalogue and certified seed, while the 0.30% ceiling is then assessed on extracts and on the products that incorporate them.
To place a figure before buying, our THC content calculator converts a percentage into milligrams per gram, and the our laboratory page sets out the four blocks of a certificate: cannabinoids, terpenes, heavy metals, pesticides.
4. On a product page: trade name against catalogue name
One point regularly unsettles readers who open the European catalogue after reading a product page: the names do not match. Catalogue denominations are plant-breeding names, filed by a maintainer and validated on listing. The names circulating in the CBD trade (Amnesia Haze, Super Boof, Lemon Haze) are cultivar and everyday names, inherited from cannabis culture, with no administrative standing.
This is not an anomaly: they are two distinct naming systems, one regulatory, the other commercial. The practical consequence is simple. On a page, three pieces of information can really be checked: the batch number, the measured values for that batch, and the laboratory that produced them. The flower Super Boof, batch PG-26-047F, assays at 9.6% CBD measured by HPLC; the Amnesia Haze flower, batch PG-26-A32B, at 11.7%. Both values come from the batches, not from the names.
Every reference is gathered on the CBD flowers page, each with its batch and its values. A seller announcing a catalogue variety without being able to produce the corresponding batch certificate proves nothing verifiable.
5. How many varieties, and for what production
The European Commission counted 116 hemp varieties listed in the common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species in 2024. Holdings claiming direct payments under the common agricultural policy must use certified seed of those varieties, whose THC content stays below 0.3%, a condition laid down by delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126.
The corresponding area has grown markedly over the period documented by the Commission: 20 540 hectares grown in 2015 for 97 130 tonnes produced, against 33 020 hectares in 2022, a rise of 60%, for 179 020 tonnes, a rise of 84.3%. France accounts for more than 60% of that production, ahead of Germany (17%) and the Netherlands (5%).
These figures describe a farming sector built on fibre and seed, far wider than the CBD market. They also explain the logic of the catalogue: it was designed to organise open-field production, not to arbitrate a retail trade in flowers. That mismatch is the main source of confusion for a reader looking for a "list of varieties authorised for sale": no such list exists in that form.
Frequently asked questions
Does a listed variety guarantee a compliant THC content?
No, not on its own. The listing attests that the line was examined below the regulatory threshold, but the content of the finished product depends on cultivation, harvest and the part of the plant kept. The arrêté du 30 décembre 2021 applies the 0.30% ceiling to extracts and to the products that incorporate them, which is checked on the batch certificate.
Does the name of a CBD flower match a catalogue variety?
Rarely. Trade names belong to a cultivar tradition and carry no administrative standing, whereas catalogue denominations are breeding names validated on listing. The only verifiable data on a page remain the batch number, the measured values and the laboratory.
Can hemp be grown at home from a catalogue variety?
No. The arrêté du 30 décembre 2021 restricts the growing of flowers and leaves to active farmers, from certified seed, and prohibits the sale of plants as well as the taking of cuttings. Listing a variety in the catalogue creates no right of cultivation for a private individual.
Sources
- Légifrance, arrêté du 30 décembre 2021, article 1, I (accessed 16 September 2026)
- Légifrance, article 1 of the order, version in force
- European Commission, plant variety catalogues and databases (Directive 2002/53/EC)
- European Commission, EU plant variety portal
- European Commission, hemp: 116 varieties, 2015 and 2022 areas, France's share
- GEVES, French official catalogue: lists A and B, CTPS, 9 000 varieties
- MILDECA, CBD: legal framework, catalogue and certified seed
- Conseil d'État, decision of 29 December 2022, no. 444887
- Phytogrammes, Super Boof page, batch PG-26-047F
- Phytogrammes, CBD flowers category
Written by the Phytogrammes team
Every article in this journal draws on primary sources (ANSM, EFSA, EUR-Lex, peer-reviewed publications) and on the lab's own practice: batch-by-batch HPLC analyses, measured cannabinoid profiles. Our approach.
Article published on . CBD is not a medicine.