CBD Pet Products in Europe: What's Legal, What's Regulated & What to Avoid

CBD Pet Products in Europe: What's Legal, What's Regulated & What to Avoid

The European CBD Pet Market: Growing Fast, Regulated Unevenly

The European CBD pet supplement market has expanded dramatically over the past five years. A growing body of research — including the landmark 2018 Cornell University study (PMID 30020864) demonstrating significant pain reduction in arthritic dogs — has generated genuine scientific interest and, alongside it, a wave of commercial products of widely varying quality and regulatory standing.

For European pet owners, navigating this market is complicated by a regulatory environment that is both genuinely complex and frequently misrepresented. Brands describe their products as "legal," "compliant," and "EU-approved" using terminology that often means something different from what consumers assume. Understanding the actual regulatory landscape is not bureaucratic detail — it is directly relevant to the safety and quality of what you give your pet.

EU Novel Food Regulation: What It Covers (and What It Doesn't)

The regulation most commonly cited in CBD marketing is Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 on Novel Foods. This regulation governs the introduction of new food ingredients into the human food supply in the European Union. Under this framework, CBD derived from Cannabis sativa was classified as a Novel Food in January 2019, meaning it requires pre-market authorisation from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) before it can be legally placed on the market as a human food ingredient.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is responsible for evaluating Novel Food applications. As of 2026, CBD Novel Food authorisations for human products are progressing through EFSA's evaluation process, but a full authorisation has not yet been granted — meaning that, strictly speaking, CBD-containing human food products remain in a pending legal status across most EU member states, with enforcement varying considerably by country.

However — and this is the critical point often missed in CBD marketing — Novel Food Regulation does not apply to animal feed. Pet supplements sold as animal nutrition products operate under an entirely separate legal framework.

The Framework That Actually Governs CBD Pet Products: Regulation (EC) No 767/2009

In the European Union, products marketed as feed for companion animals — including supplements, complementary feedstuffs, and nutritional additives — fall under Regulation (EC) No 767/2009 on the placing on the market and use of feed. This regulation establishes requirements for:

• Labelling, presentation, and packaging of animal feed products
• Permitted ingredients and their listed purposes
• Safety and composition standards for complementary feedstuffs
• Manufacturing and hygiene standards under associated regulations

A "complementary feedstuff" is defined under this regulation as a feed with a high content of certain substances but which, because of its composition, is only sufficient when combined with other feed. Many pet supplements — including CBD oils formulated as nutritional support — fall into this category when presented and sold as animal nutrition products.

Compliance with this framework requires that a product's ingredients appear on the EU feed materials catalogue or have undergone the required safety evaluation under EU animal nutrition law. It also subjects manufacturers to labelling requirements, compositional standards, and traceability obligations that do not apply to unregistered supplements.

Accessing further guidance on this framework is possible through the European Commission's animal feed safety pages, which outline the applicable regulations in detail.

What "Legal" Actually Means for CBD Pet Products in the EU

The term "legal" is used loosely — and often misleadingly — in CBD marketing. Here is what it actually means in the EU context for pet products:

Legal under hemp cultivation rules

Hemp containing less than 0.3% THC can be legally cultivated in the EU. This means the raw material for CBD extraction is legally produced. It says nothing about whether the finished product is legally compliant as a pet feed supplement.

Legal as a cosmetic or topical product

Some CBD products for pets are marketed as topical applications — balms, shampoos, or sprays. These may fall under cosmetics or veterinary product regulations rather than feed law, with different compliance requirements.

Legal as a registered complementary feedstuff

This is the highest standard of compliance for an ingestible CBD supplement sold as pet nutrition in the EU. It means the product has been formulated, labelled, and placed on the market in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 767/2009, and that its manufacturer is operating under formal EU animal nutrition law.

Many CBD pet products sold online are not registered under EU complementary feedstuff regulations — they exist in a regulatory grey area. This does not automatically mean they are unsafe, but it does mean they have not been subjected to the compositional review, labelling verification, and manufacturing oversight that formal registration requires. The regulatory status is simply unknown.

The Grey Market Problem: What to Watch For

The EU CBD pet product market contains a substantial grey market — products that are sold without formal regulatory standing, often with marketing language that implies compliance without actually delivering it. Here are the most common patterns to recognise:

Vague regulatory claims

Phrases like "EU-compliant hemp," "sourced from legal EU hemp," or "meets EU standards" typically refer to the THC content of the raw hemp, not to registration of the finished product under EU pet feed law. These are not the same thing.

Absent or single-batch COAs

Some brands do not publish per-batch Certificates of Analysis — you have no way to verify THC content or CBD concentration in the product you actually purchased. A COA from several months ago does not verify the current batch. Look for batch-specific COAs accessible via a QR code or batch number on the packaging.

Non-EU manufacturing

Products manufactured outside the EU are subject to different (often looser) standards than EU-regulated pet nutrition products. This is not a blanket condemnation of non-EU products, but it does mean the manufacturing environment has not been subject to EU animal nutrition law compliance requirements.

No veterinary formulation involvement

Without veterinary formulation oversight, dosing guidelines may be based on marketing rather than animal physiology research. Dosing protocols derived from human CBD research or simply scaled from body weight without species-specific pharmacokinetic data are not reliable guides for safe and effective use in pets.

How to Verify Compliance Before You Buy

Given the complexity of the regulatory landscape, here is a practical verification checklist:

• Ask specifically: "Is this product formulated in compliance with EU complementary feedstuff regulations?" A credible brand will be able to answer this clearly and point to documentation.
• Request per-batch COAs: The batch number on your product packaging should correspond to a specific lab report. If this link is absent, the COA is not verifiable.
• Check the manufacturer's country: EU manufacturing under EU animal nutrition law is a higher quality assurance standard than manufacturing in countries with less prescriptive feed supplement regulation.
• Verify veterinary involvement: Look for explicit statements about veterinary formulation oversight, not just endorsement quotes from individual vets.
• Consult EFSA resources: The EFSA animal feed section provides background on EU feed safety evaluation standards that can help contextualise brand claims.

National Variation Within the EU

While the complementary feedstuff framework is EU-wide, enforcement and interpretation vary between member states. Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain have generally permitted CBD pet supplements with relatively open market access, provided THC levels are within limits. Some other member states maintain stricter positions, particularly regarding the classification of CBD-containing products and whether they trigger veterinary medicine regulations.

If you are purchasing CBD for your pet within the EU, it is worth checking whether any national-level restrictions apply in your country, as market access and product legality can differ from the EU-wide baseline framework.

The Bottom Line

The EU regulatory framework for CBD pet products is more sophisticated than most brand marketing suggests — and more relevant to quality and safety than many pet owners realise. The distinction between Novel Food rules (for human food) and complementary feedstuff regulations (for animal feed) is not a technicality; it determines whether a product has been subject to meaningful regulatory oversight or exists outside the system entirely.

For pet owners in Europe, the practical takeaway is this: seek out brands that explicitly operate under EU complementary feedstuff regulations, publish per-batch COAs from accredited laboratories, manufacture in Europe under EU standards, and demonstrate veterinary formulation oversight. These markers, taken together, offer the most reliable assurance available in a market that is still maturing.

References

1. Gamble LJ, et al. "Pharmacokinetics, Safety, and Clinical Efficacy of Cannabidiol Treatment in Osteoarthritic Dogs." Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 2018. PubMed 30020864
2. Kogan L, et al. "Consumers' Perceptions of hemp products for animals." Journal of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association. 2020. PubMed 32513210

Written by Julia Wrenfield, Pet Wellness Researcher. Reviewed by a licensed veterinarian. Last updated June 2026. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute veterinary medical advice. Always consult a qualified veterinarian before making changes to your pet's health regimen.