Cannabis and Hemp Flower Export from Thailand, a Working Glossary: Plant Parts, THC Figures and Thai Legal Terms (Part 1 of 2)

BioSphere_Solutions · October 15, 2026, 2:11pm

Many export deals between Thai sellers and overseas buyers fall apart over words, not over price. Three cases come up again and again:

A buyer asks for “EU-GMP flower”. This means flower handled under the European Union’s standard for making medicines. The seller sends a GACP certificate instead. GACP is a farming standard, so the buyer cannot use it.
A seller offers “0.2% THC hemp”. The laboratory in the buyer’s country reads 1.8%. Section 2 explains how one batch can produce both numbers.
An invoice says “CBD flower”. It arrives in a country where CBD is legal but cannabis flower is not. The shipment is stopped.

This glossary defines the terms that carry legal weight. For each document, it says which agency issues it. It also flags words that two markets use with different meanings.

Part 1 covers the plant and its parts, the THC figures on a lab report, and Thai legal terms. Part 2 covers quality standards, trade and customs documents, and words whose meaning changes between countries.

Some figures below come from law firms’ published commentary, not from the law itself. These are marked “law-firm commentary”, which tells you to check them before you rely on them.

1. The plant and its parts

Cannabis (กัญชา) and hemp (กัญชง) under Thai law. Thai law separates the two mainly by THC content. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the compound that causes the psychoactive effect. Hemp is the plant whose leaves and inflorescence contain no more than 1.0% THC by dry weight.

This 1.0% line comes from the hemp framework under the Ministerial Regulation on Hemp B.E. 2563 (2020). The source is the law firm Tilleke & Gibbins, in its Cannabis and Hemp Business Guide – Thailand (2025 edition, updated November 2025, law-firm commentary). By international standards, 1.0% is unusually high. Part 2 compares it with the EU, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

Older texts also split the two by subspecies: subsp. sativa for hemp and subsp. indica for cannabis. Botanists dispute this split. Treat that wording as historical, not as the current legal test.

The key point: under Notification B.E. 2568, hemp inflorescence is a controlled herb whatever its THC level. The 1.0% line does not take hemp flower outside the controlled-herb rules. Section 3 explains what “controlled herb” means.

The 2563 definition may have been affected by the 2568 notification and by the 2569 ministerial regulations. Before you rely on it, check its current text with the Thai Food and Drug Administration (Thai FDA, อย.).

What to do: On every quote and contract, name the plant part (flower, leaf, seed or fibre) as well as the THC figure. Thai law sorts products by plant part first. Naming the part shows you which rules apply before you ship.

Inflorescence / flower / bud (ช่อดอก). This is the dried flowering head of the female plant. It is the most important word in this glossary. Thai law now regulates flower by plant part, not by potency (see “Controlled herb” in Section 3).

Mature stalk, fibre and seed. Most narcotics laws around the world leave these parts out of the legal definition of cannabis. Flower and leaf stay inside the definition. The UK Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is the clearest example (source: UK Home Office drug licensing factsheet).

So a market that “permits hemp” may permit only stalk, fibre and seed. Flower may still be banned there.

What to do: Before you offer “hemp” to a foreign buyer, ask them in writing which plant parts their law allows. This tells you whether flower is allowed at all, before you pay for testing and paperwork.

Translator’s note: For the hemp products that can legally leave Thailand (extracts, seed, fibre and cosmetics), see the forum topic What Can Actually Leave Thailand as Hemp.

2. Three different THC figures on a lab report

A lab report can show three THC numbers, and each one measures something different.

Δ9-THC (delta-9-THC) is the molecule that causes the psychoactive effect.
THCA (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) is the acid form that the plant actually makes. Most of the THC-related content in fresh dried flower is THCA.
Total THC is the standard combined figure, calculated as:

Total THC = Δ9-THC + (0.877 × THCA)

When THCA is heated, it loses a carbon dioxide (CO₂) molecule and becomes Δ9-THC. This step is called decarboxylation. The THC molecule left behind is lighter than the THCA it came from. The 0.877 factor is the ratio between the two molecular weights (standard analytical convention).

Why the lab method changes the number. Labs use two main methods:

HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) separates compounds in a liquid at near room temperature. THCA stays THCA. The report shows THCA and Δ9-THC as two separate results.
GC (gas chromatography) injects the sample at 250–300 °C. The heat turns THCA into THC inside the instrument. So part of the “THC” result is produced by the test itself.

The conversion inside a GC is incomplete, and it varies. A GC result is therefore neither the THC actually present nor a reliable total THC. This comes from work by NIST (the US National Institute of Standards and Technology) on THCA decarboxylation in GC-MS testing. GC-MS means gas chromatography combined with a mass-spectrometry detector.

The trap for exporters. The EU’s official method for checking hemp varieties is now set out in Annex I to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126, which covers 2023–2027. It uses gas chromatography, so in practice it reads total THC. National customs and narcotics labs may use other methods, so ask the destination lab how it reports THC.

Here is a worked example. A Thai certificate of analysis (COA, the lab report for one batch) shows Δ9-THC 0.2% and THCA 1.8%. Total THC = 0.2 + (0.877 × 1.8) = about 1.78%. Expect a European lab to treat this batch as about 1.8%, not 0.2%. That is the “0.2% hemp” case from the introduction.

The United States is also moving to an explicit total-THC standard that includes THCA. A November 2025 amendment to the federal hemp definition first set the effective date as 12 November 2026 (per DLA Piper, law-firm commentary, November 2025). A law signed on 2 September 2026 (H.R. 6500) moved that date to 11 December 2026 (per Foley Hoag, law-firm commentary, September 2026).

What to do: Assume total THC applies in every market unless a regulator tells you otherwise in writing. Ask your lab to report THCA and Δ9-THC separately. Then calculate total THC yourself with the formula above. This shows you the figure a foreign lab will likely read, before you sign a contract.

Translator’s note: Lab reports in Thailand sometimes give a single “THC %” figure. Ask the lab which method it used. Also ask whether the figure is Δ9-THC or total THC. If the report does not say, ask for a revised report before you put the number in a sales offer.

3. Thai legal and regulatory terms

Controlled herb (สมุนไพรควบคุม). This is a legal status under the Protection and Promotion of Traditional Thai Medicine Knowledge Act B.E. 2542 (1999). The Notification of the Ministry of Public Health Re: Controlled Herbs (Cannabis) B.E. 2568 put cannabis inflorescence into this category. It has been in force since 26 June 2025.

Two common mistakes about this rule:

It is a notification (ประกาศ), not an Act.
There is no “Controlled Herbs Act”. That name keeps appearing in English-language writing, and it is wrong.

The notification covers the plant by genus (Cannabis) and by plant part. Hemp flowers were therefore covered from the same date (per Tilleke & Gibbins, law-firm commentary).

Under the notification:

flower may not be sold or advertised online;
flower may not be supplied for recreational use;
flower that is sold or exported must come from a GACP-certified cultivation site.

Section 46 licence. This is the licence under the 1999 Act to study, research, export, sell or process a controlled herb. A Thai flower exporter holds this licence.

What to do: Check that your Section 46 licence covers export, not only sale or processing. A buyer’s compliance team usually asks for this document first.

Translator’s note: Section 78 of the 1999 Act sets a penalty of up to 1 year in prison, a fine of up to 20,000 baht, or both. It applies, for example, to studying, exporting, selling or processing a controlled herb for commercial purposes without a Section 46 licence.

DTAM. DTAM is the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine (กรมการแพทย์แผนไทยและการแพทย์ทางเลือก), part of the Ministry of Public Health. It certifies GACP. According to the law-firm commentary cited below, it also runs the staff training that Regulation No. 2 requires on site.

Ministerial Regulation (No. 2) B.E. 2569. Its full name is the Ministerial Regulation on Permission to Study, Research or Export Controlled Herbs, or to Sell or Process Controlled Herbs for Commercial Purposes (No. 2) B.E. 2569. It has been in force since 30 April 2026 (source: Royal Gazette text as published by DTAM). It tightens licensing for exporting, selling and processing flower.

Reported conditions include (per Juslaws & Consult, law-firm commentary):

proof that you have the right to use the premises;
dedicated storage, kept separate from other goods and off the floor;
a qualifying credential: a hospital, herbal-product, drug-manufacturing or Category 5 narcotics licence, folk-healer certification, or a cultivation site that supplies licensed buyers;
at least one DTAM-trained employee present during operating hours;
a system to remove odour and smoke.

The regulation does not change the PT 33 prescription rules (see below).

What to do: Use the list above as a self-check of your own site. Any gap you find now is likely to come up in a licence inspection too.

Category 5 narcotic. Under Thailand’s Narcotics Code, cannabis or hemp extracts with more than 0.2% THC by weight are Category 5 narcotics. They need a licence from the Thai FDA.

The rule is the Ministerial Regulation on Permission to Produce, Import, Export, Sell or Possess Category 5 Narcotics, Specifically Cannabis or Hemp Extracts, B.E. 2569. It has been in force since 26 April 2026 (source: Thai FDA Narcotics Control Division).

For commercial operators, it limits these licences to Thai juristic persons (companies and other registered legal entities) that are not “foreign” under the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542. Government agencies and the Thai Red Cross Society are also eligible (per Mahanakorn Partners, law-firm commentary).

So two agencies are involved. DTAM handles flower as a controlled herb. The Thai FDA handles extracts above 0.2% THC as narcotics.

What to do: Your company may have foreign shareholders and plan to export extracts above 0.2% THC. In that case, ask a qualified Thai lawyer whether it counts as “foreign” under the Foreign Business Act. The answer decides whether your company can hold the licence at all.

PT 33 (ภ.ท. 33). This is the prescription form for controlled herbs (how PT 33 works). Flower may be dispensed only against a PT 33 written by an authorised practitioner. Each prescription covers no more than 30 days.

Still a draft: the Cannabis Control Act. The draft Cannabis Control Act is not law yet. The Cabinet approved it on 22 September 2026 and sent it to the House of Representatives. The definitions in this glossary may change when it passes.

What to do: In any long-term contract, write the legal source next to each term, for example “inflorescence, as covered by Notification B.E. 2568”. If the law changes, both sides will know which version they agreed to.

Share your experience

If you have completed a licensed export or import, tell us below which of these terms caused the most confusion: total THC versus Δ9-THC, or the Thai licence terms. Please describe only lawful, licensed transactions.

Sources cited in Part 1

Tilleke & Gibbins, Cannabis and Hemp Business Guide – Thailand, 2025 edition, updated November 2025 (law-firm commentary).
UK Home Office, drug licensing factsheet.
NIST (US National Institute of Standards and Technology), work on THCA decarboxylation in GC-MS quantitation.
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126, Annex I (EU method for checking THC in hemp varieties).
DLA Piper, law-firm commentary on the US federal hemp definition, November 2025.
Foley Hoag, law-firm commentary on the delay of the US total-THC standard, September 2026.
Royal Gazette text of Ministerial Regulation (No. 2) B.E. 2569, as published by DTAM.
Juslaws & Consult, law-firm commentary on Ministerial Regulation (No. 2) B.E. 2569.
Thai FDA Narcotics Control Division, on the Category 5 extract regulation B.E. 2569.
Mahanakorn Partners, law-firm commentary on extract licensing.

This article is reference information for readers operating legally in their own jurisdictions. It is not legal, customs or tax advice. The law described here changes often and differs by country. Several figures come from professional commentary rather than from the law itself, and they are marked as such in the text. Check every point with the competent authority and a qualified lawyer in the relevant country before you enter into any transaction.