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Link: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2020-11/cp200141en.pdf

Court of Justice of the European Union

PRESS RELEASE No 141/20

Luxembourg, 19 November 2020

Judgment in Case C-663/18

B S and C A v Ministère public et Conseil national de l’ordre des pharmaciens

A Member State may not prohibit the marketing of cannabidiol (CBD) lawfully produced in another Member State when it is extracted from the Cannabis sativa plant in its entirety and not solely from its fibre and seeds

That prohibition may however be justified by the objective of protecting public health but must not go beyond what is necessary in order to attain it B S and C A are the former directors of a company whose object was the marketing and distribution of a cannabidiol (‘CBD’) oil electronic cigarette, a molecule present in hemp (or Cannabis sativa) and part of the cannabinoid family. In the case at hand, the CBD was produced in the Czech Republic from hemp plants grown lawfully and using the entirety of the plant, the leaves and flowers included. It was then imported into France to be packaged in electronic cigarette cartridges.