The Kanavape case ended today after seven years, which in January 2018, in the Criminal Court of Marseilles, sentenced Antonin Cohen and Sébastien Béguerie, of SAS Catlab, to a sentence of 16 months plus a fine in the amount of €10,000.
The lawsuit filed against the businessmen began in 2014 when the two were in charge of the KanaVape electronic cigarette - used for combustion of CBD oil extracted from hemp flowers that were imported from the Czech Republic.
On the 17th, the convictions against both were overturned by a French court, and what happened is already seen as a great victory for the entire CBD industry in France and in the European Union.
Shortly after the first convictions, the two appealed to the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal, which in turn took the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) in Luxembourg, which investigated and ruled that the CBD did not it is a narcotic and that France cannot prohibit the importation of products from any Member State, due to the rules on the free movement of goods.
The decision is seen as a step towards progress for the innovative CBD industry since, in this way, it is possible to plead for a safe market not only for consumers, who have public health security when consuming quality products regulated by the government but also for farmers and businessmen in the field, who can thus improve their production, ensuring the evolution and improvement of their flowers and extractions.
The lawyer in the case, Mr. Xavier Pizzaro, who also represented the CBD Professionals Union (UPCBD) before the Constitutional Council, said that he hopes that France will learn from this decision and start supporting and encouraging businessmen in the sector instead of hunting them down and convict them in their courts.
