The essentials in 30 seconds: a lab report — or certificate of analysis — is the document in which an independent laboratory measures what one specific batch contains. Six points are enough to judge it: the batch number must match the one on your product, THC must be no more than 0.3% (the legal limit in France), the laboratory must be a third party, the date must be consistent with the harvest, the method must be stated, and the document should cover contaminants. A generic report with no batch number holds nobody to anything.

A report analyses a batch, not a product

This is the most common misunderstanding. A certificate doesn't say "the Amnesia strain contains X": it says "batch no. such-and-such, sampled on such-and-such a date, contains X".

Two harvests of the same strain give different results — that's the nature of an agricultural product. A seller who shows a single report for an entire range, or a fixed percentage on the product page with no batch reference, is showing you a brochure, not an analysis.

That's why we don't display any cannabinoid percentage on our product pages: it would vary from one batch to the next, and showing a fixed figure would be false information. The batch number is printed on the pouch label, and that's what the report is tied to.

The six points to check

1. The batch number. It must appear on the certificate and on your product's label, exactly the same. If there isn't one, stop right there: the document isn't tied to anything.

2. The THC level. This is the only figure with legal weight in France: 0.3% maximum. Check that it's total THC (delta-9-THC + converted THCA), not delta-9 alone — a product can show a very low delta-9 and still exceed the limit once THCA is taken into account.

3. The laboratory. Its name, its address and, ideally, its accreditation should be shown. An "in-house" report, issued by the producer itself, is not an independent analysis.

4. The date. It should come after the batch was harvested and be reasonably recent. A two-year-old certificate for a product on sale today raises questions.

5. The method. A serious cannabinoid analysis is done by chromatography (HPLC or GC). The method is stated on the report.

6. Contaminants. The best reports also cover pesticides, heavy metals and solvent residues. It isn't systematic, but it's a sign of a serious operation.

The red flags that mean you put the product back

  • No batch number on the certificate, or a number that doesn't match the label.
  • An image instead of a document: a cropped screenshot with no header or footer makes any verification impossible.
  • CBD content front and centre, THC nowhere to be found. THC is the legally relevant information; if it's missing or buried, that's deliberate.
  • One report for the whole shop. One batch, one report.
  • A therapeutic promise next to the certificate. In France, health claims are banned on these products; seeing one tells you the seller either doesn't know the rules or doesn't follow them.

What the report doesn't tell you

It says nothing about perceived quality: not the look, not the density of the buds, not the finesse of the aromatic profile. Two compliant, properly analysed batches can be very different in practice.

Nor does it say anything about storage conditions after the analysis. A product that was properly analysed but badly stored — light, heat, air — will lose its terpenes without the certificate showing it.

The report is a guarantee of compliance, not a verdict on taste. For everything else, our pointers are laid out in How to choose your CBD flower, and the full legal framework in CBD and French law.

FAQ

Does a seller have to provide the lab report?

French regulations require products to be compliant — authorised varieties, THC at 0.3% or less. Making the certificate available to customers isn't a formal obligation in every case, but a seller who refuses to share the report for the batch they're selling is taking away the only way you have of checking that compliance.

What does "total THC" mean on a certificate?

In the plant, THC is mostly present in its acid form (THCA), which converts into delta-9-THC when heated. Total THC adds the two together, taking that conversion factor into account. That's the figure to look at, because a low delta-9 reading can hide a large amount of THCA.

Does more CBD mean better quality?

No. The percentage measures a concentration, not a profile. The balance of terpenes, and the way the flower was grown, dried and cured, count for at least as much in what you perceive. A big number on a badly stored product is worth nothing.

Where can I find the analyses for your batches?

The batch number is on the label of every pouch, and the matching analysis is available. If you have any doubt about a particular batch, write to us from the Contact page, quoting that number.