It’s Tea Time: Hempro International applies for general injunction to import hemp leaves
Hempro International wants to have the import of hemp leaves from Austria to Germany legally secured by means of a general ruling. For this reason, the Düsseldorf-based company has submitted a corresponding application to the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL). The Austrian hemp leaves are to go on sale in Germany as hemp tea “Nature” and hemp tea “Lemon”.
The rubbed hemp leaves made from commercial hemp are “Made in Austria” and can be freely marketed without restriction in the Alpine Republic, as they do not fall under the Austrian Narcotic Drugs Act. The reason: With a THC content below 0.3% (THC maximum content for industrial hemp in Austria) or below 0.2% (current THC maximum content for industrial hemp in Germany), the hemp leaves are anything but suitable for obtaining intoxicating “drugs”. The marketability certificates of the products as food in Austria are of course available.
Daniel Kruse, Managing Director of Hempro International GmbH and President of the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA), sees good chances for his application to the BVL for a general ruling:
“We are currently only allowed to sell hemp leaves in Germany if it is ensured that the purchaser produces a harmless product from the leaves or if an intentional risk of abuse is excluded when selling to end consumers.
For an active state of intoxication, you need to ingest around 15 mg of THC – no human being can drink, let alone smoke, that much tea made from commercial hemp leaves. This is completely out of touch with life. Such scientifically and also economically nonsensical interpretations and prejudices against useful hemp will change through our application.”
Attorney Kai-Friedrich Niermann, who represents the company in this application, is also sure that the BVL will follow Hempro International’s argumentation and decide pro hemp tea:
“The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety must prove that our German dietary habits are contrary to an import. Only then could health protection prevent the general ruling.”
In addition, Hempro International relies on a number of recent rulings on commercial hemp:
In its ruling of March 24, 2021, the German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) declared in the so-called hemp bar case that the sale of hemp flowers and leaves to end users is not generally prohibited.
On November 19, 2020, the ECJ found that hemp extracts, and the CBD contained therein, are not narcotics.
Accordingly, the distribution and possession of unprocessed commercial hemp products to end users is not covered by the Narcotics Act (BtMG).
As early as 1995, useful hemp was re-evaluated at the suggestion of the Federal Minister of Health. In the context of the deliberations on the amendment of Annex 1 to the BtMG, the legislator stated as justification:
“As a result, it was determined that abuse of low-THC hemp varieties is not to be expected nowadays, because their use is neither profitable for drug dealers nor suitable for abusers (excerpt from printed matter 899/95 on the 7th BtMÄndV).”
Attorney Niermann summarizes:
“On the basis of the 1995 ordinance of the Federal Government, which was intended to exploit the full market potential of the hemp plant, and within the framework of the necessary interpretation in conformity with European law, one will have to come to the conclusion that misuse for intoxicating purposes is generally excluded in the case of commercial hemp.”
The requested general ruling of Hempro International in text:
“Hemp leaves for use as herbal tea that are lawfully produced or lawfully marketed in Austria or in another Member State of the European Union or in another State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, or that originate from a third country and are lawfully marketed in a Member State of the European Union or in another State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, may be marketed in the Federal Republic of Germany.”
Contact
Hempro International GmbH
Daniel Kruse | Managing Director (V. i. S. d. P.) Rebecca Kruse | Managing Director
Rüdiger Tillmann | Press Spokesman Fon +49 171 3677028 r.tillmann@jole-newsroom.com
Hempro International GmbH Münsterstr. 336
40470 Düsseldorf
Fon +49 211 6999056-10 info@hempro.com www.hempro.com
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About Hempro International
Hempro International, as one of the leading companies in Europe, produces a comprehensive range of raw materials and products from hemp in certified organic quality. Customers are the hemp industry as well as producers and suppliers of food, cosmetics, textiles and accessories made from hemp.
Hempro International, based in Düsseldorf, Germany, consistently advances the use of hemp for natural and climate-friendly products. Hemp is one of the oldest useful plants in the world and can be used in many ways as a renewable raw material with high environmental compatibility.
This post was translated from DeepL.