DIGITAL BACKBONE FOR EFFECTIVE MARKET OVERVIEW AND CONSUMER PROTECTION

Berlin, 08/08/2022 – In order to strengthen safety and trust, the German Cannabis Business Association (BvCW) calls for tracking systems (English: “Track & Trace”) to become mandatory already in the introductory phase of the legal market:

“Thus, we want to facilitate transparency and controls for everyone and contribute to consumer protection,” explains Dirk Heitepriem, vice president and department coordinator for recreational cannabis regulation at BvCW.

It has long been standard practice for chicken eggs and parcel shipments – the origin of each individual can be traced exactly. Like one egg to another, cannabis varieties are not alike; on the contrary, major differences between products are possible. Therefore, it is important for consumers to know exactly what they are consuming.

Track & trace systems track the entire process from cultivation, through processing steps, to sale. Authorities and market participants alike benefit from seamless, modern data collection in real time. This means that products that do not comply with the law do not even enter circulation on the legal market. Data protection is guaranteed because the tracking only relates to the product, not to the people involved.

“It is important here that the system also remains practicable and financially viable for small and medium-sized farmers and companies. Politicians must make sure that no bureaucratic monsters are built up and that small but important niche suppliers can also participate in the controlled market. Track & Trace makes sense both in terms of tracking illegal cultivation, which is still expected to continue, and for traceability in questions of origin and quality,” adds Jürgen Neumeyer, Managing Director of the BvCW. For this purpose, it would be possible to fall back on systems that have already been successfully established. An open programming interface (API) could be used to establish compatibility with different systems. State certification of different IT solutions would also be conceivable for the BvCW.

The position paper on this topic can be found as ELEMENTE Volume 26 here: Link

Das Positionspapier hierzu finden Sie als ELEMENTE Band 26 hier: Link

Further documents on the regulatory discussion:
ELEMENTE Vol. 25: Synopsis of association positions
ELEMENTE Vol. 24: Position paper on supply chains and production conditions
ELEMENTE Vol. 23: Position Paper on Prevention & Risk Minimization
ELEMENTE Vol. 22: Cannabis Regulation – Collection of mistakes and lessons learned from other countries
ELEMENTE Vol. 20: Key issues paper on stimulant regulation – Towards a German cannabis agenda