CJEU closes the organic label to CBD foods without novel food authorisation (case C-495/25)
CJEU judgment in case C-495/25: CBD, as an unauthorised novel food, cannot obtain organic farming certification.
A food based on cannabidiol (CBD) cannot obtain certification as an organic farming product if it does not have authorisation for its marketing in the Union. So held the Court of Justice of the European Union in the judgment in case C-495/25, Syndicat professionnel du chanvre, delivered on 5 November 2026, in response to a request for a preliminary ruling from the French Council of State.
The dispute originates in the position of France's National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO), which informed organic farming certification bodies that neither products based on natural CBD —with the exception of hemp oil not enriched with CBD— nor food products enriched with CBD could obtain organic certification, and that CBD could not form part of the composition of certified organic foods. The Professional Hemp Syndicate challenged that position before the French Council of State, which decided to ask the Court of Justice.
The novel food authorisation procedure
Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 requires prior authorisation to market in the Union foods that were not consumed to a significant degree in the EU before 15 May 1997. The procedure involves an application to the Commission, a safety assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) where necessary, and the adoption of an implementing act including the food in the Union list with its conditions of use. Until authorisation is granted, the food cannot be legally marketed in the internal market. CBD entered this circuit after the Commission concluded, in light of CJEU case law, that cannabidiol is not a narcotic and must be assessed as a novel food; since then, dozens of applications await assessment, several of them paused pending further toxicological data.
The question referred
The French Council of State asked the CJEU whether CBD can be certified as an organic farming product. In its view, being an extract of hemp —an agricultural plant—, CBD could fall within the category of "processed agricultural products for use as food" of Regulation (EU) 2018/848 on organic production. The decisive nuance: although the European Commission considers CBD a "novel food" within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, it has not authorised its marketing in the European Union as a food.
The answer: certification and marketing cannot be dissociated
The Court of Justice considers that CBD cannot obtain certification as an organic farming product while its marketing has not been authorised. The reasoning has two steps.
First, the CJEU notes that "processed agricultural products for use as food" encompass products of agricultural origin intended to be used as foods, a category covering any product intended to be ingested by human beings or with a reasonable likelihood of being so. That category also covers novel foods —whether or not their marketing is authorised— and even products harmful to health or unfit for consumption, whose marketing is prohibited. In other words: CBD can enter the broad category, but that is not enough for the label.
Second, the Court stresses that organic certification cannot be dissociated from the rules applicable to the marketing of products. Certification contributes to the promotion of products and conveys, in the eyes of consumers, a positive image of quality and approval. Certifying a product whose marketing is not authorised could compromise the protection of human health and of consumers' interests. The CJEU recalls that the authorisation of a novel food implies, in particular, that it poses no risk to health in light of the available scientific evidence, that its intended use does not mislead the consumer and that, when it replaces another food, its consumption is not nutritionally disadvantageous.
The scope extends to exports
The judgment adds a precision of scope: the interpretation is equally valid when the products whose marketing in the Union has not been authorised are intended to be marketed in third countries. That external marketing could undermine the reputation of European organic certification and consumers' trust in the products displaying it. The precision closes the route some operators might have been tempted to explore: manufacturing in the EU, with the organic label, CBD products destined exclusively for export, taking advantage of the European logo's reputation without the product being legally saleable in the internal market.
The CBD sector, at the mercy of the courts
The European CBD market has lived its regulation one judgment at a time. After the CJEU case law that in 2020 ruled out considering CBD a narcotic —the Kanavape case—, the Commission resumed the assessment of novel food authorisation applications, which remains ongoing. Until those authorisations are completed, operators navigate between the prohibition on marketing as food in the EU and the possibility of exporting to third countries, a gap that this case's preliminary answer now clarifies by linking organic certification and marketing status.
A reminder on the preliminary reference
The Court's press release recalls that the preliminary reference allows national courts to ask the CJEU about the interpretation of Union law, and that it is for the national court —the French Council of State, in this case— to resolve the dispute in accordance with the answer, which is also binding on other national courts hearing a similar problem.
What the judgment does not decide
The ruling delimits its own scope precisely. The Court does not assess whether CBD is safe or whether it will one day deserve authorisation as a novel food: that assessment belongs to the procedure of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, with EFSA as the scientific evaluator. And the doctrine is limited to foods: the judgment does not rule on CBD products outside the food sphere, such as cosmetics, which follow their own regulatory path. The question left open —when and under what conditions CBD may be authorised as a food— depends on the pending applications and on the toxicological data the Commission and EFSA consider sufficient.
Practical reading for operators and advisers
The judgment orders the regulatory map of the food CBD market in Europe: while CBD does not appear as an authorised novel food, it remains outside not only ordinary marketing, but also the European organic label, with the sole exception already noted in the French position for non-enriched hemp oil. For hemp sector operators, the path runs through the novel food authorisation procedure of Regulation 2015/2283; for firms advising producers and certifiers, the judgment fixes the interpretation criterion applicable in all Member States. The Court's reasoning —certification as a guarantee indissociable from the legality of marketing— is exportable to other quality labels and aligns with the attention the CJEU has been paying to consumer protection in regulated markets, as it showed recently in case C-395/25 on detergent packaging and foods.
Frequently asked questions
What has the CJEU decided in case C-495/25?
That a CBD-based food cannot obtain certification as an organic farming product while its marketing in the Union as a novel food is not authorised.
Who made the preliminary reference?
The French Council of State, in the dispute between the Professional Hemp Syndicate and the position of the National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO).
Does CBD fall within the category of processed agricultural products?
Yes, as a novel food; but that inclusion is not enough: organic certification requires marketing to be authorised.
Does the rule also apply to products intended for export?
Yes. The CJEU considers the same interpretation valid for unauthorised products destined for third countries, to protect the certification's reputation.
Which rules apply?
Regulation (EU) 2018/848 on organic production and Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 on novel foods.
Sources
Fuentes
- Source. Accessed 9 November 2026.
The specific data in this article come from the official sources cited.
