News · Europe CBD
Austria is more open on low-THC hemp flowers than Portugal or Greece, yet 2025 tobacco-monopoly practice pushed dried flowers toward licensed tobacconists. AGES still blocks cannabinoid oils and extracts sold as food because no novel food authorisation exists.
Austria uses a 0.3% THC line for industrial hemp, which is why flower shelves look more normal here than in stricter markets. After Supreme Administrative Court practice in early 2025, dried hemp flowers under 0.3% THC are treated outside the narcotics frame for that threshold and pulled into tobacco-monopoly logic: sales channel, tax and licensing matter more than a generic “CBD shop” label.
Trade reporting describes licensed tobacconists (Trafiken) as the compliant retail path for those flowers, with hemp shops and vending machines outside that monopoly channel. Buyers should verify the seller’s licence status, not only the THC percentage on the jar.
Separately, AGES states that cannabinoid-containing oils and extracts marketed as such or in foods are novel foods under Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. No Union-list authorisation has been granted, so placing them on the market as food is not permitted. The Commission continues to terminate incomplete CBD novel food procedures – including a February 2026 decision on cannabidiol from Cannabis sativa L. (NF/2022/11411).
Marketing still says “Austria is CBD-friendly.” The accurate split is: flowers can be workable with the right licence path; oral CBD remains a novel food dead end until the Commission authorises a Union-list entry.
Disclaimer: News context for shoppers, not legal or medical advice. Austrian tobacco-monopoly and AGES practice can change. Check current official guidance before you buy, ship or sell CBD in Austria.
Low-THC hemp flowers under 0.3% THC can be workable, but post-2025 practice channels many sales through licensed tobacconists under tobacco-monopoly rules.
AGES says cannabinoid oils and extracts marketed as food lack novel food authorisation, so placing them on the market as food is not permitted.
No. The cultivation/product THC line is separate from EU novel food authorisation for ingestible CBD.
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Last updated: August 2026
