You’ve Got to be Kidding! Ghana Unveils the Most Expensive Licensing Regime in the World

Local farmers will have to cough up big time if they have hopes of participating in the West African country’s fledgling hemp sector. The licensing structure and proposed fees for the hemp sector are a slap in the face for small-scale farmers as they are heavily geared towards multinationals able to afford the dollar-denominated fees and attendant taxes.

Ghana has effectively shut the door to local hemp producers with the release of its licensing fees which are the most expensive in the world. The regulations have been anxiously awaited by prospective hemp farmers who were hoping that government would establish a framework that would include them, but the dollar denominations on the application forms has shattered those hopes.

Sadly, this is not the case, and the release of the figures by Ghana’s parliament have shocked the African hemp stakeholder community with the brutal pricing. The fact that they are dollar-denominated has put hemp farming beyond the reach of Ghanians and indicate the development of the industrial cannabis sector will be restricted to multinational corporates with deep pockets.

Just to apply for a hemp permit requires a community to come up with US$1 000, while a company is expected to pay US$5 000, a figure that’s non-refundable. There are also onerous requirements for prospective farmers to put up security as part of the licensing procedure. For a business to cultivate hemp it will be expected to pay US$45 000 a hectare with a raft of other fees to go on top.

The exorbitant nature of the fees were not expected as Ghana has expressly shown interest in Morocco’s cannabis licensing framework designed to include small-scale farmers and had also sent a fact-finding mission to Israel where the focus was more on the application of high tech to cannabis farming.

The full schedule of Ghana’s industrial cannabis licensing fees are in the schedule below released by the government in Accra. Although the figures are official, they are not necessarily final.

SCHEDULE OF FEES FOR LICENCES/PERMITS – CANNABIS REGULATION

Noted that the figures below are in US Dollars!

1. APPLICATION FEES (NON-REFUNDABLE)

a. Community 1,000

b. Company/Business. 5,000

2. CULTIVATION LICENCE FEE

Category 1: (Less than five hectares)

a. Tier 1 – cultivate up to 1 acre (0.4 hectares) 9,000

b. Tier 2 – cultivate more than 1 and up to 3 acres (1.2 hectares) 11,500 per acre

c. Tier 3 – cultivate maximum 5 acres (2 Hectares) 13,300 per acre

Category 2: (Five hectares to 20 hectares) 45,000 per hectare

Category 3: (20 hectares to 100 hectares) 45,000 per hectare

Category 4: (100 hectares to 600 hectares) 45,000 per hectare

Category 5: (600 hectares to 1 500 hectares) 45,000 per hectare

Category 6: (1 500 hectares to 5 000 hectares) 45,000 per hectare

Category 7: (5 000 hectares to 15 000 hectares) 45,000 per hectare

Category 8: (more than 15 000 hectares) 45,000 per hectare

Cultivation Annual Regulatory Fee

20% of Licence Fee

Cultivation Licence Duration

3 Years

BREEDING OF CULTIVAR LICENCE. 3,000

Breeding of Cultivar Licence renewal (Section 56, 1&2. ) 3,000

3. PROCESSING LICENCE

a. Tier 1 – Process cannabis into fibre and other derivatives in a space of up to 200 square metres. 5,000

b. Tier 2 - Process cannabis into fibre and other derivatives in a space of over 200 square metres. 20,000

Processing Annual Regulatory Fees

20% of Licence Fee

4. EXPORT LICENCE FEE. 10,000

Export Licence Annual Regulatory Fees

20% of Licence Fee

5. LABORATORY LICENCE FEE. 3,000

Laboratory Licence Annual Regulatory Fees

20% of Licence Fee

6. IMPORT LICENCE FEE 5,000

Import Licence Annual Regulatory Fees

20% of Licence Fee

7. TRANSPORT LICENCE FEE

1ST Vehicle 5,000

Add 1 Vehicle 1,000

Transport Licence Annual Regulatory Fees

20% of Licence Fee

8 STORAGE LICENCE FEE 10,000

Storage Licence Annual Regulatory Fees

20% of Licence Fee

9.DISTRIBUTION & SALE LICENCE FEE

a. Wholesale. 10,000

b. Retail. 5,000

Distribution & Sale Annual Regulatory Fees

20% of Licence Fee

10. ADVERTISING & PROMOTION LICENCE FEE. 1,000

Advertising & Promotion Licence Annual Regulatory Fees

20% of Licence Fee

11 RESEARCH LICENCE FEE

a. Experimental Licence Fee (undertakes all activities involved in the assessment, study, research, development and testing of products derived from all or any part of the cannabis plant, including the analytical services for own use). 5,000

b. Analytical Services Licence Fee (Provide commercial services exclusively for the determination of any or all of the constituents, characteristics, quality or safety parameters of cannabis or cannabis products by accepted and/or accredited methods). 5,000

Research Annual Regulatory Fees

20% of Licence Fee

12.VARIATION / AMENDMENT OF LICENCE. 2,500

13.SECURITY BONDS

1. Cultivator’s Licence

a. Tier 1. 1,000

b. Tier 2. 2,000

c. Tier 3. 3,000

d. Category 2 to Category 8. 10,000

2. Processing. 3,000

3. Research and Development. 2,000

4. Import and Export. 5,000

14.EXPORT SEAL 300.00

15.PERMITS REGIMES

a. Permit per every Cultivation 500.00 per hectare

b. Permit per every Import/Export. 500.00

c. Permit per every Transport. 100.00

d. Permit for Advertising Type. 500.00

e. Permit for Breeding. 500.00

f. Escort Fees. $2/kilometer per truck

g. Default Fee. 2,500

N.B.

1. Community applying for cultivation licence is limited to 5 acres of land.

2. The fees which are all quoted in US$ are payable in Ghana cedis at the prevailing rates.

3. All licences are valid for 3 years except for the Breeder licence which is valid for 1 year.

4. Cannabis surety bonds; it is to ensure the principal (cannabis business) covers the cost of destruction of cannabis or cannabis products if necessitated by a violation of licensing requirements.

Credits:
Cannabiz Africa (Text)
Harris Sliwosky, Cannabis Law Blog (Photo)