Last verified: 14 October 2026
“CBD is legal in that country” is the single most expensive sentence in the hemp trade. In a large number of markets CBD extract is lawful and the raw flower it came from is not, because the law is written about the form of the product, not its chemistry. A bud looks like a narcotic, so legislatures treat it as one. This article goes market by market on one question only: can whole dried hemp inflorescence be lawfully imported, as distinct from oil, isolate or extract?
| Market | Flower import | THC limit | Measured as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | Yes | <1.0% | total THC |
| France | Yes | 0.3% | EU method (GC, total THC in practice) |
| Germany | B2B only | 0.3% | THC content (§1 KCanG) |
| Czech Republic | Domestic use only | 1.0% | THC in dry matter |
| Poland | Grey zone | 0.3% | Δ9-THC + THCA, dry matter |
| Austria | Smokables only as tobacco goods | 0.3% | — |
| Italy, Spain | No | — | — |
| United Kingdom | No | any THC (plant part controlled) | — |
| United States | No in practice | 0.3% | total THC incl. THCA |
| Australia, NZ, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore | No | — | — |
1. Three separate legal layers, each of which can stop a shipment
Three different bodies of law apply, and clearing one says nothing about the other two.
Narcotics and plant-part law decides whether the inflorescence is a controlled part at all. Food law (in the EU, the Novel Food Regulation) decides whether CBD may be ingested. Tobacco and smoking-product law decides whether a smokable form may be sold, and by whom. Austria’s flower restriction runs through tobacco law; France’s ran through narcotics law; the UK’s runs through plant-part law. A vendor saying “CBD is legal here” has usually cleared one layer and not looked at the other two.
2. The measurement problem that precedes all of it
Even where flower is permitted, the THC number has to survive the destination’s test method. The full testing question is covered in the total THC versus Δ9 article (bai221).
The EU’s official method is gas chromatography with a hot injector (around 300 °C). The injector converts THCA largely, though not always completely, to Δ9-THC. Dussy and colleagues at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Basel reported about 70% conversion under optimised conditions (Dussy FE, Hamberg C, Luginbühl M, Schwerzmann T, Briellmann TA, “Isolation of Δ9-THCA-A from hemp and analytical aspects concerning the determination of Δ9-THC in cannabis products”, Forensic Science International, 2005). The EU’s “Δ9-THC content” therefore works out in practice as a total-THC reading. A certificate showing 0.2% Δ9-THC and 1.8% THCA by HPLC will be read at the border as far above 0.2%.
Since 12 November 2026, unless delayed by Congress, the United States defines hemp by total THC including THCA (0.3% dry weight) and caps finished hemp-derived products at 0.4 mg total THC per container. This comes from the hemp-definition amendment in the FY2026 appropriations act (P.L. 119-37, Division B, §781, enacted 12 November 2025). It closes the THCA-flower trade and brings the US test into line with the EU’s.
Assume total THC. Design the crop for it, not for the Δ9 number.
3. Europe, market by market
Switzerland is the clearest permission in the Western world. Cannabis with an average total THC content below 1.0% falls outside the Narcotics Act and needs no operating licence, and the Federal Supreme Court has confirmed that importing flower under that threshold is lawful (CMS expert guide). The limit is high and expressed as total content, so an exporter is not caught between a generous number and a harsh test method. A consultation on a Cannabis Products Act ran from August to December 2025, so re-check the position before shipping.
France permits it, after litigation. The decree of 30 December 2021 authorised hemp below 0.30% THC but banned the sale of raw flowers and leaves to consumers. The Conseil d’État suspended that ban in January 2022 and annulled it on 29 December 2022, holding it unjustified. Vendor guides that still describe France as isolate-only are out of date.
Italy has closed. Article 18 of Decree-Law 48/2025 was converted by Law No. 80 of 9 June 2025 (final Senate vote 4 June; published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale the same day, in force 10 June). It amended Law 242/2016 to prohibit the import, transfer, processing, distribution, trade, transport, dispatch and delivery of hemp inflorescences in any form, along with extracts, resins and oils derived from them. Breaches carry the criminal penalties of the drug law (Title VIII, DPR 309/90). Cultivation for fibre, seed, cosmetics and food remains lawful. The Consiglio di Stato referred the ban to the Court of Justice of the EU in November 2025 under Articles 34–36 TFEU, and several Italian courts have raised constitutional challenges. Until a court rules, the ban applies.
Germany: §1 Nr. 8 KCanG defines cannabis and excludes industrial hemp (Nutzhanf). §1 Nr. 9 defines Nutzhanf as plants, flowers and other plant parts with no more than 0.3% THC (or grown from certified EU-catalogue seed) where trade in them, other than cultivation, serves exclusively commercial or scientific purposes that exclude misuse for intoxication. KCanG has been in force since 1 April 2024. Prosecutors use that purpose clause against consumer-facing CBD flower sales. In practice, B2B import of hemp material is workable; selling flower to consumers is contested and prosecuted.
Czech Republic sets 1.0% THC in dry matter, among the most liberal limits in the EU. The trap: Czech-legal 1% material becomes seizable once it crosses into Germany or Poland (0.3%) or Slovakia (0.2%). The seizure risk is covered in the article on the EFSA CBD limit and the Czech contradiction (bai252).
Austria closed in February 2025. Administrative court ruling Ro 2024/16/0006 held that smokable hemp products below 0.3% THC are tobacco goods. They are subject to tobacco tax and the tobacco monopoly and may be sold only through licensed tobacconists. Oils, creams and non-smokable forms are unaffected (WKO guidance).
Poland: the amendment of 24 March 2022 to the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction (Dz.U. 2022 poz. 763) defines fibre hemp at 0.3% Δ9-THC plus THCA in flowering or fruiting tops, dry weight. Dried flower sits in a grey zone at retail, and marketing it as a smoking product is prohibited.
Spain offers no clear permission. Cultivation for cannabinoid extraction needs AEMPS authorisation whatever the THC level. Only seed, fibre and mature stem move as food ingredients, and purified CBD has been an unauthorised novel food since 1 January 2018 (Fundación CANNA). Shops sell flower as a “collector’s item, not for human consumption”. That is a sales label, not a legal basis.
At EU level, the Court of Justice’s Kanavape judgment of 19 November 2020 held that CBD lawfully produced in another member state is not a narcotic. But the case concerned CBD extract, not raw inflorescence, and it left member states room to restrict on public-health grounds. Kanavape is not authority that hemp flower moves freely in the EU.
4. United Kingdom: no, and not because of THC
The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 excludes only mature stalk, fibre from mature stalk, and seed from the definition of cannabis. Flower and leaf are controlled Class B parts at any THC content (Home Office drug licensing factsheet). Supplying a Class B drug carries up to 14 years.
The “exempt product” route does not help. It requires that the product is not designed for administration, that the controlled drug cannot be recovered by readily applicable means, and that no component part contains more than 1 mg of controlled drug. Raw flower fails all three.
5. United States: no, in practice
Even before the total-THC definition, importing hemp flower was not a workable route. USDA import rules cover hemp seed and propagation material and say nothing about bulk flower. There is no formal import permit and no dedicated tariff code. Customs field tests show only presence or absence and cannot measure 0.3%, so in practice there is zero tolerance, and outcomes vary from port to port. Declaring flower as a “generic botanical extract” is a misdeclaration: it exposes the shipper to seizure and prosecution, and it does not make the shipment lawful.
6. Asia-Pacific: closed almost everywhere
Australia: only low-THC hemp seed is permitted for human consumption, and extracts from the rest of the plant are treated as drugs (Office of Drug Control). Flower is not an importable food or agricultural product.
New Zealand: the Misuse of Drugs (Industrial Hemp) Regulations 2006 were revoked with effect from 28 May 2026. Low-THC hemp (≤1% THC dry weight) is now handled under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1977 without a cultivation licence, but import and export requirements are unchanged (NZ Ministry of Health).
Japan: the amended Cannabis Control Act took effect on 12 December 2024. It replaced the plant-part test with an ingredient-and-threshold test and criminalised use. Residual THC limits are 10 ppm for oils and powders, 1 ppm for solids and 0.1 ppm for aqueous solutions, far below any flower specification.
Hong Kong: CBD has been a dangerous drug since 1 February 2023. Import, export or trafficking carries up to life imprisonment and a HK$5 million fine, with no exempted uses (Narcotics Division).
Singapore: the Central Narcotics Bureau treats hemp as Cannabis sativa and all hemp derivatives as controlled; CBD is Class A. Consumption is punishable even if it happened overseas.
South Korea and China are closed to flower imports on all sources reviewed. Other Asian markets are covered in topic 148.
7. The Thai side, and where it leaves the exporter
In Thailand the flower is a controlled herb. Under the Notification of the Ministry of Public Health Re: Controlled Herbs (Cannabis) B.E. 2568, in force since 26 June 2025, cannabis inflorescence (ช่อดอกกัญชา) may be dispensed only against a PT 33 prescription from an authorised practitioner. Each prescription covers no more than 30 days and cannot be refilled. Online sale and advertising are banned, recreational use is not permitted, and sold or exported flower must come from a GACP-certified site. The notification targets the plant part, not a THC percentage, so do not assume a low-THC hemp bud escapes it. Get the status of a specific product confirmed by DTAM in writing.
Two Thai THC thresholds are routinely confused:
| Threshold | What it tests | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0% THC, dry weight, leaves and flowering tops | the hemp plant or variety (2019–2020 hemp rules issued under the Narcotics Act) | variety classification; does not decide whether a bud is a controlled herb |
| 0.2% THC by weight | extracts | above 0.2%: Category 5 narcotic; at or below: outside the narcotics schedule but still subject to Thai FDA product, cosmetic and food rules |
A compliant plant can produce a non-compliant extract. Material grown within the 1.0% plant line can still yield an extract above 0.2% once concentrated, and that extract is a Category 5 narcotic. The concentration step is where the two thresholds meet.
In 2026 two Ministerial Regulations B.E. 2569 tightened licensing: one for cannabis/hemp extracts (in force 26 April 2026) and controlled-herb licences No. 2 (in force 30 April 2026). Neither changes the PT 33 rules. The Cannabis Control Act is still a draft: the Cabinet approved it on 22 September 2026 and sent it to the House. Press reports say it would add an under-20 sales ban, and the thresholds above may change when it passes.
The intersection: for raw Thai CBD flower, the viable destinations reduce to Switzerland, with France and German B2B as qualified possibilities. Czechia is usable only within its own borders. That is a small market, reached through Thailand’s controlled-herb rules rather than as an ordinary agricultural export. Compare it honestly with the extract route. There, an extract at ≤0.2% THC by weight is outside the Thai narcotics schedule but still subject to Thai FDA product, cosmetic and food rules, and the question at the destination becomes cosmetics and food law. What can leave Thailand on the supply side is covered in “What Can Actually Leave Thailand as Hemp” (bai216) and in bai214.
8. Customs classification, briefly
Under the clearest published national mapping (Statistics Canada), dried cannabis flower falls under 1211.90, extracts under 1302.19, cannabis medicaments under 3004.90 and true hemp fibre under 5302.10. Two cautions. Declaring flower under 1207.99, an oil-seed heading, is a misdeclaration: it exposes the shipper to seizure and prosecution. And correct classification makes nothing legal; narcotics control applies at the border whatever the tariff code.
Where has raw hemp flower actually cleared customs for anyone here, and on what documents? Switzerland is the obvious answer on paper. More useful: what did the Swiss importer need from the Thai side, and was the Thai controlled-herb paperwork accepted without difficulty?
Related reading: “What Can Actually Leave Thailand as Hemp” (bai216); bai214 on Thai hemp exports; total THC versus Δ9 (bai221); the EFSA CBD limit and the Czech contradiction (bai252); Asian cannabis laws (topic 148).
This article is reference information for readers operating legally in their own jurisdictions. It is not legal or customs advice. Several of these markets are changing: Italy’s ban is before the CJEU and the Italian Constitutional Court, Swiss law has been under consultation, the US definition changed on 12 November 2026 unless Congress delayed it, and Thailand’s Cannabis Control Act is still a draft. Check with the competent authority and qualified local counsel before shipping.