Listen above or stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play or Stitcher! Every Thursday, international attorneys Jonathan Bench discuss legal and economic developments around the world with the help of their international guests. No topic is too big, too small, too simple, or too complicated. They cover continents, countries, regimes, governance, finances, legal developments and whatever is trending in global
Last year, we helped a client take a hard look at an issue related to cannabis and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It was a fascinating project and WTO lawyers took preliminary interest in the issue. We were told that cannabis had not come before the WTO in any formal or informal context to that
As I mentioned in a prior post (see here), we have been fielding regular inquiries from international cannabis companies that want to engage with the U.S. market by selling raw hemp or cannabis, distillates (including cannabinoids), and products, including products that have been proven in their home markets. How to Enter the U.S. Market High-Level
We regularly write about arbitration as an alternative to litigation on this blog and on our sister blog, the China Law Blog. Topics have included the pros and cons of arbitration in the cannabis industry, international arbitration issues, and U.S. Supreme Court cases: Cannabis Litigation 101: Arbitration Cannabis Arbitration: The Good, The Bad, and The
Although COVID-19 is causing much of the world to slow down, business deals in many industries continue. Companies continue to seek strategic acquisitions, partnerships, and investments as they enter new international markets or seek to relocate a portion of their business or supply chain from higher-risk markets, such as China, to lower-risk markets in Southeast
The enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill and the legalization of hemp and hemp derivatives, including cannabidiol (“CBD”), has led to a massive CBD craze in the United States. The highly coveted cannabinoid is infused with everything: bath bombs, dog treats and even workout clothes (yes, workout clothes!). According to a recent study by Cowen, the
Last year, the European Union reclassified extracts of Cannabis sativa L. and derived products containing cannabinoids, including CBD, as a “Novel Food” under the EU Novel Food Catalogue. The reclassification was based on the lack of demonstrated history of human consumption of these extracts and of any product to which they might be added. Indeed,
We’ve been writing about various European countries’ approaches to regulating hemp (or auf Deutsch, Hanf) and hemp-derived cannabidiol (which I’ll refer to as “CBD”). While readers of the blog know that the legalization of hemp via the 2018 Farm Bell led to a massive CBD explosion in the United States, it’s only starting to dawn
The U.S. hemp market continues to heat up for a variety of reasons, mainly because the general populace is finally starting to understand the difference between cannabis as marijuana and cannabis as hemp (and the benefits of CBD and other cannabinoids derived from cannabis). In this post I’ll discuss why China’s pain can be U.S.
Last week, the Food Standard Agency (“FSA”), the agency responsible for protecting public health in relation to food in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (collectively, the “UK”), cleared a path for the sale of CBD-infused food for the next 12 months. Specifically, the FSA is giving the CBD industry until March 31, 2021 to submit
