Statement on Italy’s new public safety decree-law and its article 18
Which imposes restrictions on the entire production and sales chain for hemp flowers and CBD products
Madrid, 9 April 2025.
On Friday 4 April 2025, the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic approved a new decree-law on public safety that will hit the industrial hemp and CBD products sector hard once it enters into force.
It is expected to enter into force in the coming days, once the text is officially published in the Italian Gazzetta Ufficiale, although from then on the Italian Chamber of Deputies will have 60 days to ratify it and turn it into law.
In its article 18, the new decree-law provides as follows:
“The import, transfer, processing, distribution, sale, transport, sending, shipping and delivery of the inflorescences of hemp grown in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article are prohibited, including in semi-processed, dried or shredded form, as well as products containing or consisting of such inflorescences, including extracts, resins and oils derived from them. The penalty provisions of title VIII of the consolidated text contained in Presidential Decree no. 309 of 9 October 1990 apply.”
This rule therefore imposes real restrictions on the industrial hemp and cannabis light industry in Italy, as well as on other sectors such as the one based in Spain. With the publication of this decree-law, the Spanish industry will no longer be able to argue that products are of lawful origin when they come from Italy.
S&F Abogados has learned that the Italian industry, through cooperation between business groups and expert lawyers, is already organising a legal challenge to reverse the decree-law imposed by the Meloni Government. We hope that, once the relevant legal appeals have been filed, the Italian courts will suspend its application and ultimately declare it null and void.
We will keep you informed about this process and, above all, about the date on which this rule enters into force.
S&F Abogados.
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