Header Image: Valentina Palmisano, MEP of the 5-Star Movement
European Left and Greens call for the issue to be scheduled urgently, as early as March. At stake is the closure of some 3,000 businesses in the sectors of Low-THC cannabis, cosmetics, floriculture, dietary supplements, herbal medicine
EU News
Brussels – Advances the action of Italian agricultural associations in defence of the industrial hemp supply chain, targeted by two measures of the Meloni government that effectively ban the production and trade of hemp inflorescences and derivatives and classify compositions for oral use of CBD among narcotic substances. The petition presented by several national acronyms last September was accepted by the Petitions Committee (PETI) of the European Parliament. Its chairman, Polish conservative Bogdan Rzońca, asked the European Commission to “conduct a preliminary investigation into the issue.”
In the response addressed to the president of Canapa Sativa Italia, Mattia Cusani (the first signatory of the petition that gathered the yes of Confagricoltura, Cia, Copagri, Cna Agroalimentare, Unci, Liberi Agricoltori, Altragricoltura, Associazione Florovivaisti Italiani, Federcanapa, Sardinia Cannabis, Assocanapa, Resilienza Italia Onlus, Canapa delle Marche, the European Industrial Hemp Association -EIHA, and the French UPCBD) the PETI committee pointed out that the Court of Justice of the European Union, in a judgement of October 4, 2024, ruled that Member States may not impose restrictions on the cultivation of industrial hemp, including indoor cultivation and cultivation exclusively for the production of inflorescences, unless such restrictions are supported by factual scientific evidence relating to the protection of public health.
EU Parliament sources confirm that no parliamentary group has opposed what Rzońca has ordered. At this point, in addition to the request to the European Commission to respond in substance, the Italian government’s securitarian clampdown on the production and trade of hemp and hemp derivatives will be placed on the agenda at meetings of the Petitions Committee. The committee may invite Cusani himself or another of the petitioners to discuss the petition in the courtroom. Canapa Sativa Italia, together with Imprenditori Canapa Italiana, Resilienza Italia Onlus and Sardinia Cannabis, had already delivered a letter to the European Commission in June 2024. Now, however, it is the Parliament that is asking Brussels to take a stand.
Valentina Palmisano, MEP of the 5-Star Movement and member of the Petitions Committee, and Cristina Guarda, MEP of the Left Green Alliance and vice chair of the Petitions Committee, have requested that the petition be scheduled urgently, as early as the next session in March. “Given the urgency of the situation and its impact on business, employment, and environmental objectives, we request that this petition be discussed urgently in committee and that it be placed on the agenda for March, if possible (April, if not possible),” reads the formal request by the European Left group, of which the 5-Star Movement is a member in Brussels. A similar request was filed by the Greens group, of which Cristina Guarda is a member.
A need also made pressing in light of the expected timeline in Rome, where the Security Bill is scheduled to be discussed in the Senate in early March. Palmisano—who had already submitted a question to the European Commission this summer to urge its intervention on the issue—said she was “very pleased” with the petition’s acceptance, underlining the “ideological fury” with which the Meloni government “has put thousands of small and medium-sized farms, traders, and workers who have invested in this sector in all legality into crisis.”
Security bill and CBD decree, the alleged violations of European law
At stake are 3,000 businesses, about 15,000 workers, and a growing industry that is already worth 500 million in sales on an annual basis. Indeed, Amendment 13.06 to the Security Bill would ban the production and trade of hemp inflorescences and derivatives, even with a THC content of less than 0.2 per cent, affecting not only small retailers of CBD—hemp sativa L with low THC content that does not produce psychotropic effects—but also excellent agro-industrial supply chains such as cosmetics, floriculture, dietary supplements, and herbalism. In addition, with a decree that went into effect last August 5 (suspended a month later by the Lazio Regional Administrative Court), the government equated oral CBD compositions with narcotic drugs, restricting their sale only to pharmacies with a non-repeatable prescription.
According to trade associations, both measures would violate Articles 34 and 36 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which define the principle of free movement of goods. However, Rome also made a procedural error: Both measures were allegedly not notified to TRIS, the European mechanism in charge of agreeing with member states on possible adjustments to avoid violations of EU law.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
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