Legal & RegulationsArticle20 Apr, 2022

CBD Now Regulated as Food

The UK has become the first country in the world to regulate the public sale of orally-administered, legal cannabinoids following the publication of a list of permitted products.

CBD Business Newsletter

Tue / April 19th by Jesse Grillo

The UK has become the first country in the world to regulate the public sale of orally-administered, legal cannabinoids following the publication of a list of permitted products. The move will serve to “de-risk” CBD for investors and spur innovation in the space.

Compiled by UK regulator, the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the list features around 3,500 products containing CBD that have been given a green light to remain on shelves (both physical and virtual) in the UK’s constituent countries of England and Wales.

These products, which were already available to buy in the UK, are allowed to remain on sale to the general public in England and Wales
Any products that do not appear on the CBD list can no longer be sold, and vendors continuing to offer them for sale could face penalties. However, these products may still be submitted for authorization under the FSA’s novel foods approval process

How it works

Inclusion on the CBD list is a key stage on the path to full authorization, which is expected in 2023.

Suppliers of CBD products on sale in England and Wales on or before 13 February 2020 were required to submit an application for assessment
Suppliers whose application dossiers were assessed to meet FSA’s novel food standards have had their products added to the CBD list, which means they can remain on sale while they await full authorization.
CBD products that entered the market after, or that failed to submit an application before the deadline, must be removed from sale until such a time that they obtain FSA authorization.
Having a product added to the list “means you have submitted all the required information as per your dossier, and it has been accepted by the regulators. But that doesn’t mean it has been authorized,”

By the numbers

Around 900 applications were submitted before the deadline
Of those, 71 progressed, leading to 3,500-plus products being added to the CBD list
680 applications were rejected
42 applications were self-withdrawn by companies that no longer wished to proceed

Why it matters

The implementation of the regulatory framework will “de-risk” CBD for producers, retailers, consumers, and investors.

While regulation has led to the immediate prohibition of hundreds of CBD products, it will arguably fuel further innovation in the space as the compliance guide rails become clearer.

Annual sales of UK consumer CBD products hit an estimated £690 million ($898 million) in 2021, according to ACI – likely making it the world’s second largest CBD market after the US.