Federal Decree by Law No. (24) of 2025 Regulating Industrial and Medical Uses of Industrial Hemp
Federal Decree by Law No. (24) of 2025
The decree-law creates a tightly controlled licensing and supervision framework for industrial hemp with legally defined low-THC characteristics and for authorised industrial or medical uses, while preserving narcotics controls outside the permitted scope.
Overview
What this legislation covers
The decree-law creates a tightly controlled licensing and supervision framework for industrial hemp with legally defined low-THC characteristics and for authorised industrial or medical uses, while preserving narcotics controls outside the permitted scope.
Who or what it applies to
- Licensed persons/entities engaged in authorised industrial-hemp activities.
- Manufacturers and medical-product businesses using permitted industrial-hemp compounds or raw materials.
- Importers, exporters, transporters, warehouses and distributors subject to the decree-law.
- Federal and local authorities supervising health, agriculture, industry, customs and security.
- Does not extend to unlicensed cannabis activities or products outside the statutory low-THC/authorised-use framework.
Key points
Important points at a glance
Official metadata records issuance on 1 October 2025 and effect from 1 January 2026.
Defines industrial hemp by reference to Cannabis sativa and a statutory Total THC threshold in the flowering heads and leaves.
Creates a specific exception framework distinct from general narcotics prohibitions only where the decree-law's definition and controls are satisfied.
Regulates authorised cultivation, production, processing, manufacturing, possession, transport, import, export, storage, distribution and disposal activities.
Requires licences/approvals from the competent authorities for regulated activities.
Allocates roles among the National Anti-Narcotics Authority, federal authorities and competent local authorities.
Imposes traceability, record, inspection, security and compliance obligations.
Separately regulates medical-product uses and links them to the federal medical-products framework.
Excludes or specially restricts categories such as smoking products and other products identified by law/Cabinet decision.
Provides rules for samples, testing, THC compliance and handling of non-compliant material.
Regulates commercial and industrial establishments dealing with permitted hemp inputs/products.
Provides administrative enforcement powers, seizure/disposal mechanisms and penalties.
Does not legalise recreational cannabis or products outside the decree-law's permitted scope.
Businesses must also comply with customs, agriculture, industry, health, product and narcotics legislation.
Practical explanation
Understanding the law
Purpose and practical effect
The decree-law creates a tightly controlled licensing and supervision framework for industrial hemp with legally defined low-THC characteristics and for authorised industrial or medical uses, while preserving narcotics controls outside the permitted scope.
Who and what the law applies to
- Licensed persons/entities engaged in authorised industrial-hemp activities.
- Manufacturers and medical-product businesses using permitted industrial-hemp compounds or raw materials.
- Importers, exporters, transporters, warehouses and distributors subject to the decree-law.
- Federal and local authorities supervising health, agriculture, industry, customs and security.
- Does not extend to unlicensed cannabis activities or products outside the statutory low-THC/authorised-use framework.
Important definitions
- Industrial Hemp: Cannabis sativa material meeting the statutory Total THC limit and other conditions in the decree-law.
- Total THC: the concentration measure used by the law for distinguishing industrial hemp from controlled cannabis material.
- Authority: the National Anti-Narcotics Authority as defined by the decree-law.
- Federal Authorities / Local Authority: public bodies with health, agriculture, industry, customs, environment or security competences.
- Medical Product: a product regulated under the separate federal medical-products framework when containing authorised hemp material/compounds.
Main rights, duties and legal consequences
- Only licensed persons may carry out activities that the decree-law makes licensable.
- Authorities may inspect, sample and take enforcement action to verify statutory compliance.
- Licensees must keep activity within approved purposes and conditions.
- Products outside the authorised industrial/medical framework remain subject to the UAE's narcotics and other prohibitory legislation.
Practical compliance / procedure checklist
- Identify the exact proposed activity and whether it is licensable under the decree-law.
- Confirm the product/raw material satisfies the statutory industrial-hemp definition.
- Obtain all federal/local licences and sector approvals before operations begin.
- Implement traceability, testing, record-keeping, security and controlled-disposal systems required by regulators.
- Apply medical-products rules separately where the proposed product is medicinal.
- Use customs and import/export permits for cross-border movement.
- Escalate any non-compliant THC result to the competent authority and follow official disposal/remediation instructions rather than self-directed handling.
Important dates and deadlines
- Issued: 1 October 2025.
- Effective: 1 January 2026.
- Licence validity, testing/reporting and transition periods depend on implementing decisions and the activity concerned.
- Any product-approval deadline under medical-products law is separate.
Enforcement and legal exposure
The decree-law is a regulatory exception within a tightly controlled area. Unlicensed activity or material outside the statutory definition may engage serious narcotics, customs, health or criminal consequences. This package deliberately does not provide operational cultivation or extraction instructions.
Practical scenarios
- A cosmetics manufacturer should first determine whether the product category and hemp-derived ingredient are legally permitted and then obtain the required product/establishment approvals.
- A medical-product company must comply with both the hemp decree-law and the federal medical-products regime.
- An importer must verify licensing, certificates, THC compliance and customs/security approvals before shipment.
- A failed compliance test should be handled through regulator-directed quarantine/disposal procedures.
Current-law interaction
No amendment identified in the official source reviewed. Current Cabinet/ministerial implementing decisions and product-specific approvals should be checked before operations.
Research status
Legal-status and source verification for this package was carried out on 2026-09-07. UAE federal legislation often operates together with Cabinet resolutions, Executive Regulations, ministerial decisions, local Health/competent-authority rules and later amendments. The current official source should be rechecked before a live filing, licence application, clinical decision, enforcement step or court submission.
Practical notes
- Use the current official Arabic text for interpretation and application; the English package is a structured legal-information rendering.
- Verify the latest consolidated law, Executive Regulation, Cabinet/ministerial decisions and relevant Emirate-level rules immediately before case-specific reliance.
- Exact penalties, thresholds, exceptions, consent rules and procedural deadlines must be checked against the current article and implementing instrument.
- The supplied cover artwork is editorial artwork and does not constitute an official UAE Government publication or legal-status certificate.
Legislation text
Text and provisions
Official-text notice. This file is a comprehensive structured English legal-information rendering based on the sources listed in this package. It is not represented as the controlling verbatim English text. The official Arabic text prevails for interpretation and application. Exact offences, penalties, thresholds, exceptions, licences, consent requirements and deadlines must be checked against the current official article and implementing instrument.
Federal Decree by Law No. (24) of 2025 Regulating Industrial and Medical Uses of Industrial Hemp
Verified legislative metadata
| Instrument | Federal Decree by Law No. (24) of 2025 |
|---|---|
| Issued | 2025-10-01 |
| Effective | 2026-01-01 |
| Status | Active / in force |
| Official Gazette | Official Gazette No. 809 |
| Official source | UAE legislation source |
Purpose and scope
The decree-law creates a tightly controlled licensing and supervision framework for industrial hemp with legally defined low-THC characteristics and for authorised industrial or medical uses, while preserving narcotics controls outside the permitted scope.
Structured legislative map
Definitions and scope
Defines industrial hemp, cannabis-related concepts, competent authorities and the statutory low-THC boundary.
Relationship with narcotics law
Creates a limited regulated exception while preserving narcotics controls for cannabis/material outside the law.
Competent authorities
Allocates regulatory, licensing, inspection and coordination functions across federal/local bodies.
Licensable activities
Requires approval for specified cultivation, processing, manufacturing, possession, transport, storage, import/export and commercial activities.
Cultivation and production controls
Regulates authorised growing/production sites, approved inputs, traceability and statutory compliance.
Testing and THC compliance
Provides mechanisms for testing and addressing material that exceeds legal limits.
Processing and manufacturing
Regulates conversion of permitted hemp raw material into industrial or medical products.
Medical uses
Links medical products containing permitted hemp compounds/material to the medical-products regulatory framework.
Import, export and customs
Requires lawful permits, documentation and customs/security coordination.
Storage and transport
Applies security, traceability, separation and record controls to movement and storage.
Prohibited products/uses
Excludes or restricts products and uses not authorised by the decree-law, including recreational/smoking-type uses.
Inspection and records
Requires records and permits regulator inspection, sampling and compliance checks.
Administrative enforcement
Provides suspension, cancellation, seizure, disposal or other measures for non-compliance.
Penalties and final provisions
Creates penalties and implementation/commencement rules.
Key statutory points
- Official metadata records issuance on 1 October 2025 and effect from 1 January 2026.
- Defines industrial hemp by reference to Cannabis sativa and a statutory Total THC threshold in the flowering heads and leaves.
- Creates a specific exception framework distinct from general narcotics prohibitions only where the decree-law's definition and controls are satisfied.
- Regulates authorised cultivation, production, processing, manufacturing, possession, transport, import, export, storage, distribution and disposal activities.
- Requires licences/approvals from the competent authorities for regulated activities.
- Allocates roles among the National Anti-Narcotics Authority, federal authorities and competent local authorities.
- Imposes traceability, record, inspection, security and compliance obligations.
- Separately regulates medical-product uses and links them to the federal medical-products framework.
- Excludes or specially restricts categories such as smoking products and other products identified by law/Cabinet decision.
- Provides rules for samples, testing, THC compliance and handling of non-compliant material.
- Regulates commercial and industrial establishments dealing with permitted hemp inputs/products.
- Provides administrative enforcement powers, seizure/disposal mechanisms and penalties.
- Does not legalise recreational cannabis or products outside the decree-law's permitted scope.
- Businesses must also comply with customs, agriculture, industry, health, product and narcotics legislation.
Amendments and interaction with other legislation
No amendment identified in the official source reviewed. Current Cabinet/ministerial implementing decisions and product-specific approvals should be checked before operations.
Legal-reading rule
This package is designed for website publication, internal research and client-facing orientation. It maps the law's operative subject matter and current regulatory context, but a paraphrase cannot replace the statutory wording. Where the outcome depends on a defined term, licence category, medical condition, consent requirement, penalty, exception, transition rule or deadline, open the current Arabic article and the relevant Executive Regulation or competent-authority decision before relying on it.
Verification
Official source & references
Official legislation sourcehttps://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/3886Open ↗Official Gazette: Official Gazette No. 809
This page is a research and educational resource. Legislation can be amended, repealed, supplemented by regulations or interpreted by courts and authorities. Obtain advice before relying on it for a live matter.