Is CBD legal to sell in the UK?

Ingestible CBD products are sold under the novel food regime, and the FSA maintains a public list tied to applications. The status of a specific product depends on its application, which is a question for the product rather than for the marketing.

Does the 10 mg figure have to appear in every post?

Our engine asks for it whenever a post mentions an amount, a serving or a number of drops. A post that does not talk about intake at all does not need it.

Do ASA rules apply to organic posts?

Yes. The CAP code covers marketing communications on a brand's own social media, not only paid advertising.

United Kingdom: CBD rules on social media

The UK has the most specific published guidance of the three markets and the most active advertising regulator. The FSA runs the novel food list and publishes an intake figure for healthy adults; the ASA rules on whether marketing is misleading and does so publicly, with named brands. For a hemp account that combination makes the rules unusually knowable.

Updated 2026-08-264 minute read

Who is looking

The FSA. It maintains the novel food position for ingestible CBD and publishes advice on daily intake for healthy adults.
The ASA, applying the CAP code. It rules on misleading marketing and on whether promotions state their significant conditions, and its rulings are published.
The MHRA, where a product is presented as a medicine. Presentation is enough; the product does not have to be one.
Meta, on top, and faster than any of them.

This page describes how our compliance engine treats posts for this market. It is written by the people who build the engine, not by lawyers, and it is not legal advice. Where the stakes are high, have your wording checked locally.

What every post needs in writing

These are the notices our engine requires on a post aimed at the UK market, in the exact form it accepts.

18+ only.

When: always
Why it is there: An age marker on a restricted product.

Food supplement. Not a medicine.

When: always
Why it is there: States the category, which is the shortest defence against a presentation problem.

The FSA advises healthy adults to take no more than 10 mg of CBD per day.

When: when the post mentions a dose, a serving or a number of drops
Why it is there: The UK is the market with a published intake figure, so any mention of an amount is expected to carry it.

Not recommended if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or taking medication.

When: when the post touches calm, sleep, stress, mood or recovery
Why it is there: The vulnerable groups line, triggered by the topic of the post rather than by the product.

Free UK delivery on orders over £40.

When: when the post says anything is free
Why it is there: A free claim has to carry its condition in the same line. Free with an unstated condition is the single most common ASA finding in retail.

Offer ends 12 October, selected products only. T&Cs apply.

When: when the post announces a promotion
Why it is there: Significant conditions belong in the ad. A promotion whose terms live only on the website is incomplete where it was seen.

What fails

Our engine currently carries this many rules that apply to a UK post:

Rules in our engine that apply to this market (UK)
Layer	Rules that apply	Of which cannot be rewritten
Health and wellbeing claims	34	20
Direct selling: prices, discounts, codes, orders in messages	37	6
Hashtags: deny list, count, rotation	27	7
Required notices for the market: age, disclaimers, AI disclosure	41	27

Do not write this

FSA approved and on the novel food list

Write this instead

Our products are on the FSA public list of CBD novel food applications. The entry number is on the product page.

Why. The FSA does not approve products in the way this sentence implies, and claiming authorisation you do not have is both a misleading claim and an easy one to check. Being on the public list is a specific status with a specific wording.

Do not write this

Take two drops daily for a calmer evening

Write this instead

Our 5 percent oil is 10 millilitres and 500 milligrams of CBD in the bottle. How to use it is on the pack and on the product page.

Why. Intake advice and an outcome in one line. The outcome half is a claim that cannot be rescued by rewording, and the intake half belongs on the pack rather than in a caption. Where a serving is mentioned at all, the FSA line goes with the post as a required notice.

Promotions are where the ASA finds things

The pattern in published rulings is consistent and it is not about CBD at all: a promotion is announced without its significant conditions, and the conditions live somewhere else. Free delivery without the minimum spend, a discount without an end date, a bundle without the stock limit.

A hemp brand carries the ordinary retail risk on top of the category risk, and the ordinary one is more likely to produce a public ruling.

The working checklist

No claim about a condition or a function.
Age marker and the not a medicine line present.
Any dose mentioned together with the FSA intake figure.
Any promotion carrying its conditions in the post itself.
Any free claim carrying its condition in the same line.

The other markets are the United States and the European Union.

Questions

Is CBD legal to sell in the UK?: Ingestible CBD products are sold under the novel food regime, and the FSA maintains a public list tied to applications. The status of a specific product depends on its application, which is a question for the product rather than for the marketing.
Does the 10 mg figure have to appear in every post?: Our engine asks for it whenever a post mentions an amount, a serving or a number of drops. A post that does not talk about intake at all does not need it.
Do ASA rules apply to organic posts?: Yes. The CAP code covers marketing communications on a brand's own social media, not only paid advertising.

Keep reading

CBD social media compliance: the rules that decide if a post is safe
Four rulebooks apply to every hemp post: platform policy, advertising law, food law and the local market. Here is how they interact and how a check runs.
United States: CBD rules on social media
What a hemp brand may post in the US market: the FDA position on claims, FTC disclosure rules, the notices every post needs, and the wording that fails.
European Union: CBD rules on social media
What a hemp brand may post in the EU: novel food status, the health claims regulation, the notices every post needs and the AI disclosure requirement.
Health claims on social media: describing a product without promising an outcome
What counts as a health claim in a CBD caption, why softeners like helps and supports do not help, and how to write about a product without naming an outcome.