Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Flax and hemp — National legislation prohibiting the cultivation and possession of industrial hemp — Incompatible with the common organisation of the markets — (Council Regulations Nos 1308/70 and 619/71)

Summary

Regulation No 1308/70 on the common organisation of the market in flax and hemp, as amended by Regulation No 2826/2000 on information and promotion actions for agricultural products on the internal market and Regulation No 619/71 laying down general rules for granting aid for flax and hemp, as amended by Regulation No 1420/98, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which has the effect of prohibiting the cultivation and possession of industrial hemp covered by those regulations.

First, in depriving the farmers concerned of any possibility of claiming the benefit of the aid, such a prohibition has a direct detrimental effect on the common organisation of the market in the hemp sector. Second, it does not pursue a public-interest objective which is not covered by the common organisation of the market, in so far as the risks to human health constituted by the use of narcotic drugs have been specifically taken into account within its framework.

see paras 30-32, 34, 38, operative part