Why does the British FSA act faster than the EU's EFSA on CBD?

The British Food Standards Agency (FSA), after Brexit, adopted a pragmatic approach by creating a list of CBD products (approx. 12,000) for temporary sale and establishing a temporary ADI of 10 mg CBD, while EFSA suspended the assessment of applications (regulatory paralysis).

Has the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for CBD been established?

Yes, the British FSA has temporarily established the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) at 10 mg CBD, which provides a clear benchmark for safety and market regulation.

What is CBD Novel Food?

CBD, due to the lack of a history of consumption in the EU before May 1997, has been classified as a Novel Food, which requires an application to be submitted and authorised before it can be legally placed on the market.

CBD: A Tale of Two Regulators. How British Pragmatism Exposes EU Bureaucracy.

Q: What is the effect of the EU regulatory paralysis on the CBD market?

The result is the development of a dangerous and unregulated grey market full of products of questionable quality and falsified composition. This creates a real risk to consumers.

Published: 19 November 2025 | Author: Tomasz Krawczyk

Introduction

In a fascinating post-Brexit regulatory experiment, the United Kingdom and the European Union are writing two radically different scenarios for the future of CBD. While London, with surgical precision, creates a framework for a safe and legal market, Brussels builds a bureaucratic wall that harms both consumers and innovation. The difference is so striking it borders on satire.

United Kingdom: Science and Common Sense in Action

The British Food Standards Agency (FSA), freed from the constraints of EU regulation, chose pragmatism. Instead of pretending the market does not exist, it decided to regulate it.

Step 1: The Public List

The FSA created a list of nearly 12,000 CBD products that could remain on sale, provided a credible Novel Food authorisation application was submitted. This brilliant move gave the industry breathing room, separating serious players from the rest.

Step 2: Concrete Guidelines

The FSA, relying on data, established a temporary Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of 10 mg CBD. This is a clear, science-based benchmark for safety.

Step 3: Positive Decisions

From 2024, the FSA began issuing positive safety assessments for applications, including for the key EIHA consortium. The first full product authorisations are expected in spring/summer 2025.

The result? Predictability, growing consumer confidence and a clear path to a fully legal, multi-billion-pound market.

European Union: Paralysis by Analysis

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Channel, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) demonstrates how to kill innovation in the name of misguided caution.

The Decision: "Stopping the Clock"

In June 2022, EFSA indefinitely suspended the assessment of all 190+ CBD applications, citing "data gaps" and "uncertainties". The clock is still stopped.

Regulatory Absurdity

The greatest curiosity is that EFSA ignores a vast body of clinical human data originating from a CBD-based medicine approved by another EU agency (EMA) - Epidyolex.

EMA considered this data sufficient to administer CBD to children at therapeutic doses, but for EFSA it is worthless for assessing food safety. This is not science; it is bureaucratic theatre.

The Consequence: A Dangerous Grey Market

Instead of protecting consumers, EU policy pushes them into the arms of an unregulated market, full of products of questionable quality, falsified composition and potential contaminants. In the name of eliminating hypothetical risk, a real and tangible risk has been created.

Conclusions

The contrast is brutally simple. The United Kingdom chose the path of regulation and progress, becoming a global centre of innovation in the field of cannabinoids. The European Union chose inaction, creating a regulatory black hole and ceding ground to the competition.

Share: Share on X