CBD legal situation in Austria

CBD Buds: A Gray Area

Since no real methods are known with which a significant extraction of THC from CBD products is profitable or easy, both CBD pollen and CBD flowers are legally and freely available in Austria.

BUT: According to the Ministry of Health, they may not be offered and advertised as smoking goods, because the THC content can quickly exceed the 0.3% limit when burned. We are proud to say that our products do not exceed a THC content of 0.02%. So you don't have to worry that our products may cause any kind of problems in relation to this. At Davivi, we offer pure products, and our products are of course regularly checked by independent laboratories.

However, CBD flowers in the form of coffee or CBD tea can be sold legally and transparently in Austria, as these are clearly ordinary foods and therefore do not fall under the Novel Food Regulation. An easy production of addictive substances can also be ruled out, since in such cases it is not a matter of extracts.

If the worst comes to the worst, the police can order a THC check at any time. Especially with hashish and flowers, it is very possible that the police will insist on a laboratory examination if you are stopped with it. That's why we now have oil cartridges, so your product doesn't look like an illegal drug at first glance. This problem is obviously a major challenge for many judicial authorities around the world. It cannot be denied that neither laymen nor the police themselves can normally distinguish CBD flowers visually and olfactorily from flowers with THC content. We therefore recommend that you always have an invoice of your CBD or HHC at hand. Even if a proof of purchase is not legal proof of legality, you are more credible that way and you may be able to avoid the whole, tedious procedure. As a rule, the police will be happy to report you "preventively", but in the laboratory it could actually turn out to be a "successful catch". Of course, the public prosecutor's office will immediately drop this charge as soon as it can be determined how much of which substance is contained in your supposedly legal cannabis.

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CBD on the road

Driving a car is generally not a problem in Austria after normal, prescribed CBD consumption. In drug tests as part of traffic control, no CBD is shown anyway, but the illegal THC. This is mainly because cannabidiol is not a psychoactive substance. In a drug test, only the legal limit of 0.3 percent is important. Of course, also that the amount tested is always below this penalty guideline. However, since almost all CBD products contain tiny amounts of THC, you should be aware that this can become a problem during a control if you have consumed CBD (and thus also THC) in larger quantities. Products that are very close to the permitted limit should be treated with the utmost caution. This madness can be compared to alcohol-free beer, as you've probably already experienced or even experienced if you don't even get into the car after a few alcohol-free beers during your driver's license probationary period.

Of course, the whole thing also depends on the type of product consumed and to what extent it was consumed 'properly'. Unfortunately, in Austria, as in Germany, even small amounts of THC in the blood are strictly forbidden, even if you are not intoxicated by it. Due to the supposedly coming change of the federal government in the topic of drug policy, especially with regard to hemp, the topic of the measly low, allowed, concentration value of THC in our blood is always the topic. In theory, and certainly in practice, the current value can mean that even passive smoking of highly potent THC weed can produce a higher value than permitted, since this value, at least in Germany, is just one nanogram. Nevertheless, since the current occupation of the Bundestag, there has been discussion of bringing legalization to Germany, at most by increasing the THC limit in the blood to three nanograms.

Thus, to be on the safe side, you always carry the product packaging and an invoice with you, so that you can prove the legal purchase and other product information. The same applies here: Even if this does not legally represent any protection against accusations of a criminal offence, you are usually on the safe side as long as the THC quantity is not 'suspicious'. In most cases, police officers will not believe you without receipts, so the chances are significantly increased if you always carry these receipts with you as a preventive measure, insofar as you should carry CBD products with you, for whatever reason.

CBD from the doctor / Medical use

Unlike in Germany, for example, CBD is not yet approved as an official medicinal product or “functional medicinal product” in Austria. Nevertheless, in Austria you can have CBD oils or CBD capsules prescribed by doctors who have already dealt with the cannabinoid. However, corresponding CBD preparations are only paid for by health insurance companies in a few exceptional cases - e.g. in certain forms of epilepsy. Because CBD has long been recognized as a medicine at European level and thus obviously also automatically in Austria. In general, CBD is being used more and more in medicine, and there are many possible uses, especially for serious illnesses. Of course, as with pretty much any topic, opinions differ, so there are studies that believe they can prove that CBD can indeed find many therapeutic uses. In practice, for the most part only nature-related practitioners see themselves in the application for their patients. For example, there is a lot of evidence about the exercise-based use of cannabinoids. According to many reports, many professional athletes have been using products containing CBD for many decades.

Legal situation for CBD manufacturers and dealers!

The legal situation in Austria is extremely complicated to the point of desperation, especially for CBD producers, as well as CBD dealers and manufacturers: CBD products may under no circumstances be sold or sold as medicines or medical devices, cosmetics, or as food and dietary supplements. to be advertised. Anything else would "apparently" create a 'false appearance of a health-promoting effect'. It is common for traders to come into contact with the legal authorities, and even market leaders are regularly scrutinized. Nevertheless, it is amusing that the question of taxes is clearly and conclusively defined in every case of politics.

The legal background for the whole thing should be, among other things, the already mentioned Novell Food Regulation of the EU. This is the basis for the Ministry of Health’s 2018 decree, according to which the sale of food and dietary supplements as well as cosmetics with extracts containing CBD is officially prohibited. The Novell Food Regulation states that any food or additive that was not consumed to any significant extent in the European Community before July 15, 1997 must be designated as novel.

Since cannabidiol (CBD) was allegedly not consumed to any significant extent by the date mentioned and there is still insufficient empirical data for the active substance, CBD was therefore rated as novel in the European Commission's Novell Food Catalog and therefore requires approval as Food that has not previously been granted. The CBD regulation of 2018 is therefore still valid.

Since CBD products with a THC value of less than 0.3% can be sold legally, but cannot be labeled as food or dietary supplements, the conclusion drawn by the manufacturers and distributors is only logical and understandable: another loophole in the Law.

Many producers and retailers in Austria have adapted their packaging and now simply label their CBD products such as oils, flowers and teas as so-called "aroma products". Incidentally, hemp products without a significant CBD content (e.g. hemp seeds, hemp proteins or hemp seed flour) do not fall under the Novel Food Regulation. They are part of the normal food and can be bought normally in the supermarket. And why? Like other cannabinoids, CBD is mainly found in the inflorescences, leaves and stems of the hemp plant - but only to a very small extent in the hemp seeds themselves.

Here you will find our HHC cartridges with 92-99% pure HHC

Many may now describe the adaptation of packaging or labels as circumventing the Austrian legal system. We have different opinions and we are not alone in this. There are sources that show that cannabis (and therefore also CBD) was consumed in significant quantities BEFORE July 15, 1997 and is therefore NOT a NEW food.