How must the club document harvest and dispensing?

A cultivation association must document harvest and dispensing without gaps. In § 26 KCanG, the Consumer Cannabis Act (Konsumcannabisgesetz, KCanG) requires continuous records of quantities, recipients and handovers, as well as annual reports to the competent authority. Documentation is therefore a fixed part of the work, because it provides the proof that the requirements have been met.

What must be recorded continuously

Under § 26 para. 1 KCanG, the cultivation association must document several details continuously, to prove traceability. These include:

• Name, first name and address of each person, and name and seat of each cultivation association or legal person from which propagation material originates,
• the quantities of cannabis in grams and the number of pieces of propagation material located on the fenced-off premises (befriedetes Besitztum),
• the quantities of cannabis cultivated, in grams,
• the quantities of destroyed cannabis in grams and the number of destroyed pieces of propagation material,
• for each member to whom cannabis was handed over: name, first name, year of birth, quantity in grams, average THC content and date,
• for each member to whom propagation material was handed over: name, first name, year of birth, number of pieces and date,
• quantities in grams and varieties of the cannabis transported, with the name of the person transporting it, and the date, start and destination address.

This list shows how closely documentation is tied to practice. An entry arises at every harvest, every handover and every destruction. Anyone who only wants to fill in these details at the end of the year is working with estimates, and these are hard to prove.

Retention and transmission

The records must be kept for five years (§ 26 para. 2 sentence 1 KCanG). On request of the competent authority, they must be transmitted electronically. The association should therefore choose a system that stores this data cleanly and can export it. A spreadsheet with fixed columns can be enough for small associations, if it is kept up to date continuously.

In addition, each year by 31 January, the association transmits electronically, in anonymised form, the information documented under § 26 para. 1 for the previous calendar year to the authority. This transmission serves the evaluation under § 43 KCanG (§ 26 para. 2 sentence 2 KCanG).

The annual report in detail

By 31 January of each calendar year, the cultivation association reports electronically to the authority which quantities of cannabis in grams were cultivated, passed on and destroyed in the previous year. It also states the stock at the end of the previous year (§ 26 para. 3 KCanG). The information must be broken down by variety of cannabis and by the respective average content of THC and CBD.

The report serves as proof that the permitted annual quantities were observed. For this reason, the internal documentation must be structured so that the figures can be derived from the individual entries. A board that signs the annual report should be able to trace the totals beforehand.

Duties to notify in the event of risks and loss

If the cultivation association knows, or on the basis of its information suspects, that the cannabis passed on poses a health risk that goes beyond the typical dangers of use, it must inform the competent authority without delay. It must also take measures without delay, for example informing members and recalling, withdrawing and destroying affected cannabis (§ 26 para. 4 KCanG).

If there is suspicion of loss or unlawful passing on, the authority must likewise be informed without delay (§ 26 para. 5 KCanG). If this information is not given, it is a regulatory offence (§ 36 para. 1 no. 34 KCanG). Persons authorised to represent the association may refuse to provide information if doing so would expose themselves or a relative to the risk of criminal prosecution.

Spot checks, destruction and transport

The association must regularly take samples of the cultivated cannabis and test them (§ 18 para. 2 KCanG). Cannabis and propagation material that cannot be passed on must be destroyed without delay (§ 18 para. 3 KCanG), and the destroyed quantities belong in the documentation (§ 26 para. 1 no. 4 KCanG). Transport of more than 25 grams between parts of the fenced-off premises is permitted under the conditions of § 22 para. 3 KCanG. These include that the association notifies the authority in writing or electronically at the latest one working day beforehand, and that the transport certificate, membership card and a copy of the licence are carried. The authority may inspect records and make copies (§ 28 para. 2 KCanG), and the association must provide information (§ 29 para. 2 KCanG).

Common mistakes

• Estimating afterwards: documentation at the end of the year is error-prone and often cannot be proven.
• Missing recipient data: anyone who does not record the year of birth of each member cannot fully prove the handover.
• Confusing pieces and quantity: propagation material is recorded in pieces, cannabis in grams. Both must be kept separately.
• Lost documents: the retention duty lasts five years. Deleting folders or files before then breaches it.

What you can do now

1. Set up separate records for harvest, stock, handover and destruction.
2. Enter every transaction immediately, not only at the end of the month.
3. Keep all records for five years and secure them against loss.
4. Before the turn of the year, prepare a summary of totals by variety and THC content for the annual report.
5. Agree with the competent authority in which format the electronic transmission takes place.

For the quantities in the application and in the year, read What does members' personal requirement mean? The destruction of goods that cannot be passed on is explained in How are surplus quantities disposed of? For authority inspections of the club, read How does the authority inspect a club?