How to sell CBD products safely and legally

Legality of products

This is obviously a key feature. You definitely want to offer only legal products to your customers.

A lot of products on the market (especially the cheaper ones) are not manufactured under an OPL (note red. narcotic and psychotropic drug license in the Czech Republic (EU)). If a manufacturer does not have one, they are producing illegal hemp extract.

Cheap products often have no traceable origin of production, and the seller may put himself at risk of prosecution because he is selling illegally produced hemp extract, which is classified as a category 1 drug. 

In contrast, CBD oils from Cannadorra are produced under an “OPL” license and are therefore 100% legal with the traceable origin of production - the origin and production of the products is regularly inspected by CAFIA (Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority) and SUKL (Czech State Institute for Drug Control) (most recently in autumn 2020).

Food supplement versus novel food

Novel food is now a well-known concept in the hemp world. 

Novel foods or novel food ingredients (hereinafter referred to as 'NF') are foods for which there is no documented history of consumption before 15 May 1997, the date on which Regulation (EC) No 258/1997 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 1997 on novel foods and novel food ingredients entered into force.

Most of the cheaper CBD products are made by C02 extraction, where a maximum of 1.5% CBD at 0.2% THC can be achieved (the primary extract has 15% CBD and 2% THC but must be diluted to the legal THC limit) and then the products are backfilled with CBD isolate - crystalline CBD to achieve the desired CBD concentration of the product i.e., 5-20%. Anything containing CBD isolate - crystalline CBD (synthetic or produced by ethanol extraction) is Novel Food according to EU legislation. No one in the EU has a valid Novel Food registration yet. By selling such products, the seller exposes himself to the risk of sanction by the SZPI.

CBD drops from Cannadorra are produced as HIGH PURIFIED HEMP DISTILLATE - hemp oil with natural CBD content, therefore the way of production DOES NOT fall under Novel Food and are properly notified as dietary supplements in the Czech Republic. In addition, they have been checked several times by CAFIA for "food safety" and found to be a safe dietary supplement.

As far as sales to the EU are concerned, according to the decision of the European High Court "A Member State may not prohibit the marketing of CBD legally produced in another Member State if it is extracted from the Cannabis Sativa plant" - Cannadorra's hemp oils with CBD are legally (under OPL) produced and legally notified in the Czech Republic as a food supplement (not Novel Food).

Food safety – THC content and dosage

Some of the products on the market contain up to 0.2 % THC (because they are made by CO2 extraction followed by the addition of CBD isolate) and claim a dosage that makes them dangerous to consume. By selling such products, the seller exposes himself to the risk of being sanctioned by the CAFIA for selling unsafe food.

Oils from Cannadorra or "hemp oil with natural CBD content" contain such levels of THC to be a safe food and yet they can be described as full-spectrum (with full spectrum of cannabinoids – CBG, CBC, CBN, CBDA), because THC is removed from Cannadorra`s CBD oils by chromatography while retaining all other molecules. With the above dosage, CBD oils from Cannadorra are safe dietary supplements.

Product labelling and health claims

No therapeutic properties or health claims can be attributed to any food supplement or food under the Food Act. Hemp oil from seeds with natural CBD content can only be given such a validated on-hold health claim related to hemp oil. CBD itself does not even have any on-hold claims.

Therefore, no health claims or therapeutic properties may be made on the packaging of CBD products or in the product descriptions on the e-shop.

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 Article author:

Alexandra Ribola