Prepare your annual report under Section 26 KCanG
For cultivation association boards, annual reporting starts with traceable records throughout the year. This guide helps you gather evidence, reconcile quantities and prepare the electronic submission to your responsible authority in Germany.
HerbTrack · Sources checked on
When is the annual report due?
Information for the preceding calendar year must be submitted electronically by 31 January. Section 26(2) requires anonymised submission of the information recorded under subsection 1. Subsection 3 additionally requires a quantity report: cannabis cultivated, distributed and destroyed, plus year-end stock, in grams and broken down by strain and average THC and CBD content.
Legal source: Section 26 KCanG at Gesetze im Internet (German)Distinguish ongoing records from annual submissions
Subsection 1 covers stock, sourcing details for propagation material, cultivation quantities, destruction and distribution, among other information. Under subsection 2, these records must be retained for five years and supplied electronically when the authority requests them. The annual submission under subsection 2 must be anonymised. A distribution list alone covers neither all documentation nor the quantity report under subsection 3.
Legal source: Section 26 KCanG at Gesetze im Internet (German)Six steps before submission
Set the period and responsibilities
Agree on the calendar year, responsible board members and a second reviewer. Check which portal or file format your authority expects. Allow time for questions and retain the submission receipt alongside the version you submitted.
Gather the supporting records
Collect cultivation and harvest records, laboratory results, distributions, destruction records and stock movements for the same period. Include propagation material in your ongoing documentation. After switching software, also check records from the previous system; opening a new account does not replace historical evidence.
Reconcile year-end stock
Compare opening stock, cultivation, distribution, destruction and closing stock for each strain. Use the actual position on 31 December, rather than today’s inventory. Investigate discrepancies through the transactions: was a movement recorded twice, assigned to the wrong year or omitted? Keep justified corrections traceable.
Check strains and measurements
Match strain names to the relevant batches and measurement evidence. A missing THC or CBD value is not a measured zero. Avoid unchecked catalogue values and explain how averages were calculated. Renaming a strain must not make historical quantities disappear or appear twice.
Review exports and personal data
Open every generated file. Do the year, units and totals match your records? Does the annual anonymised version still contain names or other information that could identify a person? Review the entire document, including free-text fields. Distinguish a personal-data disclosure requested by an authority from the annual anonymised submission.
Have another person check completeness
Ask a second person to compare quantities, measurements and attachments against supporting evidence. Record unresolved questions and clarify them with the responsible authority before submission. Store the submitted version and receipt where your board can retrieve them later.
Worked example: does year-end stock add up?
These invented quantities illustrate an internal plausibility check for one strain. They are not an official reporting template and do not replace measurements or supporting records.
| Item | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Opening stock | 200 g |
| Cultivated during the year | 1 000 g |
| Distributed during the year | 800 g |
| Destroyed during the year | 50 g |
| Calculated closing stock | 350 g |
200 g + 1 000 g − 800 g − 50 g = 350 g
If your stock records show 330 g on 31 December instead, 20 g remain unexplained. Do not simply change the report to the expected number. Check the underlying evidence and transactions. A balanced calculation alone does not prove that every entry is correct and complete.
How HerbTrack supports preparation
HerbTrack provides annual report data by strain, including opening stock, cultivation, distribution, destruction and closing stock, with THC/CBD information. A plausibility check highlights quantity discrepancies. A separate CSV distribution journal covers cannabis and propagation material, with an anonymised default version and a separate personal-data version for authority requests.
The distribution journal is part of the evidence, not a complete replacement for all Section 26 obligations. Review the entered data, actual anonymisation and your authority’s requirements. Exporting a file does not submit it electronically to the authority.
Evaluate CSC software with practical questionsWhere do you submit the annual report?
Use the authority responsible for your association. Bavaria, for example, provides a dedicated online procedure for the quantity report under Section 26(3). Do not assume this process applies in every German state: check the submission channel and required attachments with your own authority.
BayernPortal: annual quantity reporting procedure (German)
Find the responsible authority by German state