WRITTEN QUESTION E-1266/98

by Ernesto Caccavale (UPE) to the Commission

(29 April 1998)

Subject: Legal confusion regarding fibre hemp-growing

Under Italian anti-drug legislation, the growing of Indian hemp is banned (TO 309/1990).

According to leading toxicologists, the tetrahydrocannibinol (THC) content of Indian hemp varies between 3.4 and 4.8 %.

It is well known that the THC content may vary considerably within one single variety depending on meteorological and climatic conditions.

Given the impossibility of distinguishing varieties on the basis of morphological and botanical features, the Italian court of cassation laid down the rule, in the absence of any specific legislation, that, for criminal purposes, Indian hemp is hemp whose THC content is greater than 0.3 %, referring to the relevant EEC regulation under which aid may be granted only in respect of areas of hemp which have been sown with the varieties of seed listed in the annex to Regulation (EEC) 1164/89(1) and whose hemp content is no more than an average of 0.3 %.

This ruling given by the Italian Supreme Court of Appeal (which takes no account of the fact that Italian fibre varieties may, in certain meteorological and climatic conditions, have a THC content of up to 1 %), has been enforced by the police, thereby causing hemp-growing to be abandoned, most Italian varieties to be lost and the hemp sector and related techniques to be destroyed, with serious economic and environmental repercussions.

It is universally acknowledged that the reintroduction of fibre hemp in Italy and, in particular, fibre hemp belonging to traditional Italian varieties is of vital importance in terms of environmental protection and the economic livelihood of vast areas of Italy.

Will the Commission state what measures should be taken to prevent Community law from being improperly used in assessing, for the purposes of criminal proceedings, crops deriving from seeds certified as belonging to traditional Italian fibre varieties?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(5 June 1998)

Community legislation on the conditions for granting aid for hemp comprises strict requirements on various grounds.

It limits the grant of assistance to certified seeds of varieties whose intoxicating substances content ensures that the level of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) does not exceed 0.3 %. To this end, a Community list of varieties which respect this criterion and for which there is a Community method of chemical quantification has been drawn up. This list currently comprises 18 varieties including the Italian varieties "Carmagnola", "CS" and "Fibranova". In addition, the official labels of the seeds used must be supplied and harvesting must take place after seed formation.

The Commission has stated in the past that a national ban on hemp cultivation is incompatible with the existence of the common organisation of the market. However, a Member State is free to take any measures that it considers necessary for penal purposes in so far as they do not make cultivation impossible.

According to the information available to the Commission, not much hemp has been sown in Italy recently: 3 hectares in 1994, 20 hectares in 1995 and 10 hectares in 1996.

(1) OJ L 121, 29.4.1989, p. 4.