August 28, 2023
By Steve
This is the second part of a four-part series on cannabis regulation in Europe. Click here for Part 1. Part 2 analyzes the differences between the UK, EU and US. Part 3, coming out next week, will go into more detail on dosages, approvals, and more. Please look forward to future updates.
EU regulatory environment
We Europeans look at the American market with envy and wonder why we can’t be more like that. The differences between the US market, the UK, and the EU economies could not be more different, but change seems to be on the horizon. The UK and EU both have novel food laws, but their implementation differs significantly.
In the EU, the application is submitted to the EU Commission and approval can take up to 9 months just for approval of the application. No further testing is required. Also, there is no charge for the application, but collecting the data needed just to create the application is expensive, and can cost upwards of six figures. Even if the application is approved, there may still be data gaps and uncertainties, there are toxicology tests that can take years to complete, and finally approval and verification by EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) is required. becomes. The required toxicology tests are very expensive, with both the EIHA (European Industrial Hemp Association) and his EFSA estimating a cost of around €3.5 million.
