Italy’s escalating crackdown on hemp and CBD has hit Bologna-based Enecta, which noticed its important e-commerce website disappear with out warning earlier this yr—an episode co-founder Jacopo Paolini mentioned is one other “wake-up name” for the sector.
Paolini mentioned the takedown, which lasted two full months, was traced to a Ministry of Well being Decree from the Directorate Common for Animal Well being, which alleged {that a} pet product offered on Enecta’s website contained THC.
“We’ve solely ever offered one product for animals (Premium Hemp Oil for Pets), and it doesn’t comprise any THC. Lab assessments verify this,” Paolini advised HempToday.
The decree didn’t title the product, contradicted verified lab information, and was by no means formally delivered to the corporate, in keeping with Paolini. The block, which finally minimize site visitors by greater than half, worn out key search rankings and induced losses of €150,000–€200,000, the corporate estimated in a weblog put up. The block, ordered April 29, was formally lifted on June 30, 2025.
“In Italy, a web site might be taken offline with out prior discover, and that has the identical impact as a industrial seizure,” Paolini mentioned.
Hostile local weather
Whereas the ministry’s motion was in a roundabout way associated to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s sweeping “Safety Decree,” Paolini mentioned Italy’s more and more restrictive regulatory local weather contributed to public confusion and reputational injury. The Meloni decree labeled industrial hemp flowers and non-psychoactive cannabinoids similar to CBD, CBG, and CBN as narcotics no matter THC content material—instantly contradicting European Union legislation, which permits the free motion of hemp merchandise containing lower than 0.3% THC.
The EU place, set out in European Courtroom of Justice rulings and the European Fee’s Cosing database, is that CBD just isn’t a narcotic, is non-psychoactive and non-addictive, and is probably not prohibited in member states with out scientific proof of well being dangers. These ideas allow its use in cosmetics and meals dietary supplements. Critics say Meloni’s measures blatantly disregard these guidelines.
Business backlash
The Italian authorities’s broader crackdown has alarmed regional agriculture councils, authorized students, and EU officers, who warn it undermines a €2 billion sector supporting as much as 30,000 jobs. Business teams have launched courtroom challenges, constitutional appeals, and EU complaints, calling the measures “ideological” and “unconstitutional”.
Paolini mentioned Enecta is now working “twice as exhausting” to revive buyer connections, rebuild search visibility, and get better misplaced gross sales. “We’re nonetheless right here, regardless of every thing. And we would like this story to be a wake-up name. As a result of in Italy, even companies that function in full compliance with the legislation can see their financial freedom threatened in a single day, with out warning and with out a factual foundation,” he mentioned.
Based within the Netherlands in 2012 and now headquartered in Bologna, Enecta is a producer and vendor of high-concentration cannabinoid merchandise for the medical, pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical industries. The corporate companions with analysis leaders such because the Giesen Analysis Group in Holland and Berlin-based Becanex, a well-regarded extractor serving the meals and cosmetics sectors. Along with its genetics division, Enecta develops cannabinoid merchandise that it markets internationally.
