Yes, CBD is legal to buy and sell in the UK — but the conditions attached are the part worth understanding.

Novel foods

Ingestible CBD products in Great Britain are regulated as novel foods. To be sold lawfully a product needs to appear on the Food Standards Agency's public list, supported by a validated application. This is a meaningful filter, and it is public — you can check it yourself.

Controlled cannabinoid limits

Consumer CBD products must contain only trace amounts of controlled cannabinoids such as THC. Batch-level laboratory testing is how a manufacturer demonstrates this, which is why we publish certificates of analysis.

Cosmetics are different

Products applied to the skin are regulated as cosmetics rather than foods, under a separate framework with its own safety assessment requirements.

What to check before you buy

  • Is the product on the FSA public list?
  • Is there a published certificate of analysis matching your batch?
  • Does the labelled CBD content match what the lab measured?
  • Are there any medical claims on the packaging? There should not be.

TODO(content): full-length version to be authored in WordPress, with an outbound link to the FSA public list per PRD §7.2.