Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2003:33
Date: 2003-01-16
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Free movement of goods;Measures having equivalent effect;Quantitative restrictions
Concepts: Flax and hemp
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Sweden

Summary of the Judgment 
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) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-462/01 
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 pro­
motion 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 inter­
preted 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 detri­
mental 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) 
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