Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz has sent the draft of the First Act to Amend the Consumer Cannabis Act – Commercial Hemp Liberalization, with the request that it be passed by the German Bundestag, to the President of the Bundestag, Bärbel Bas. The aim is to make better use of the benefits of industrial hemp for sustainability, climate protection and biodiversity and to eliminate legal uncertainties. The key points of the draft bill are the deletion of the so-called “intoxication clause”, which previously restricted the trade in industrial hemp, the authorization of indoor cultivation of industrial hemp, which opens up new economic opportunities, especially for products containing CBD, and the adjustment of the reporting obligations for industrial hemp cultivation, whereby indoor cultivation must be reported on a quarterly basis. The federal government emphasizes that the law is not intended to allow the production of cannabis products for the purpose of intoxication (edibles).
All statements submitted on the law by BVNG, BvCW, DBV, NHN & EIHA welcome the law, the draft already passed the Bundesrat on 22.11.2024. A Bundestag resolution before the new election would theoretically still be possible, but the red-green minority government would also need the votes of the FDP or CDU/CSU for a majority. However, the CSU has positioned itself against the law in the Bundesrat. Kai-Friedrich Niermann, lawyer at KFN+ Law Office, reports on the political uncertainties and legal disputes in a KrautInvest guest article.
Source German Cannabis Business Association
