Smokable CBD and France's PLFSS 2026: the excise duty proposed in October 2025

By Manon, CBD specialist at Deli Hemp Pro

In October 2025, the French government's draft social security budget for 2026 proposed a tobacco-style excise duty on smokable hemp products, with sales restricted to licensed outlets and online sales to consumers banned. This article describes the proposal as it stood on 15 October 2025, when it was first published. The bill was still at an early stage of debate then, and its final outcome needs to be checked against the text eventually adopted.

For a foreign professional, it is a useful case study: France is Europe's largest CBD market, and what happens to smokable CBD there shapes the supply of flowers, resins and pre-rolls well beyond its borders.

What is the PLFSS, and where did the bill stand?

The PLFSS (projet de loi de financement de la Sécurité sociale) is the bill the French government presents every year to set the revenue and spending of the social security system. The 2026 edition included, for the first time, a measure to regulate and tax smokable products made from CBD or hemp.

In October 2025, it was only a draft. A PLFSS goes through several stages: presentation, committee review, parliamentary debate and possible adoption, with amendments tabled all along the way. Nothing was settled, and professionals could still make their voice heard through trade bodies such as the UPCBD (Union des Professionnels du CBD, a French CBD trade association) or through local representatives.

What the draft proposed for smokable CBD

The government wanted to align the taxation of smokable CBD with that of tobacco by creating an excise duty on combustible hemp products. It would have applied to CBD cigarettes, pre-rolls, smoking blends and resins intended for combustion.

The tax came with a stricter framework:

• only licensed tobacconists (buralistes, the French tobacco retailers) or outlets authorised by the authorities could sell these products;
• those outlets would have to meet compliance, integrity and training criteria similar to those required for tobacco;
• online sales to end consumers would be banned, ending direct sales of smokable products by CBD webshops.

In practice, smokable CBD would have been channelled through the tobacco network and licensed physical shops, with tax and health controls comparable to those on tobacco.

What it would mean for B2B CBD

For wholesalers, distributors and brands, the proposal marked a turning point. It challenged the current multichannel model, built on specialist shops, webshops and direct distribution.

An excise duty would raise the cost price of smokable products and squeeze margins. It would also reshape distribution, with tobacconists becoming the main legal outlets, and require logistics adapted to stricter traceability and paperwork.

If such a framework were adopted, well-organised companies able to work in a regulated environment would come out ahead. Brands able to work with the tobacco network, adapt their packaging, keep traceability records and supply compliant certificates would become the preferred partners of the smokable CBD market. Restrictive as it is, that shift could also clean up the sector by pushing out opportunistic players.

The UPCBD's response

The UPCBD reacted quickly. It called for vigilance without panic, stressing that the text was far from final, and set up a legal working group to analyse the proposal and its practical consequences.

The group's aims were to propose amendments limiting the most restrictive effects, to keep a clear line between smokable products and other forms of CBD such as oils and cosmetics, and to defend the existing legal status of CBD not intended for combustion. The UPCBD also said it would keep professionals informed as the debates progressed and argue for clear, balanced regulation.

Our position as a wholesaler

At Deli Hemp, we follow these legislative changes closely because they directly affect our B2B partners. Since 2019, our job has been to supply reliable, compliant products suited to the realities of the trade, built on quality, consistency and responsiveness.

We handle every size of order, from an independent shop to an organised network of tobacconists. Our flowers, resins, CBD cigarettes and related products are designed to fit different distribution models, from local convenience stores to specialist retail. In the context of this proposal, our priority was to anticipate legal changes, adjust our range and keep compliance tight, including solutions suited to the tobacco network.

What to check today

The outcome of the PLFSS 2026 debates is not covered here: check the final text and its implementing rules before drawing conclusions for your business. If you buy smokable products in France for resale elsewhere, remember that our products comply with French law (delta-9-THC ≤ 0.3%), while the status of hemp flowers, resins and other hemp products varies between countries and can be much stricter. In the UK, the status of hemp flower remains contested. Check the rules for resale in your country before you order.

Frequently asked questions

What does PLFSS stand for?

Projet de loi de financement de la Sécurité sociale: the annual French bill that sets the revenue and spending of the social security system. Tax measures on products such as tobacco can be included in it.

Which products did the proposed excise cover?

In the October 2025 draft, combustible hemp products: CBD cigarettes, pre-rolls, smoking blends and resins intended for combustion. Oils and cosmetics were not the target.