Importing honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Declaration of special measures: Italy

The Minister for the Environment has reasonable grounds for suspecting the existence of small hive beetle (Aethina tumida) in Italy, such that certain animals and products originating in or dispatched from the Region of Calabria and the Region of Sicily, Italy are liable to pose risk to human or animal health.

Suspension of entry of certain products into Jersey

Entry into Jersey is suspended in respect of the following products originating in or dispatched from the Region of Calabria and the Region of Sicily, Italy:

A declaration of special measures came into force on the 19 January 2023.

Declaration of special measures: Italy

Importing honey bees

You are only able to import honey bees into Jersey from:

• elsewhere in the British Isles
• European Union (EU)
  
• other eligible countries outside the European Union

Importing from British Isles

You can import honey bees into Jersey providing the conditions set out in the general import licence are met. You will have to apply to Animal Health and Welfare at Natural Environment to have your apiary approved for isolation.

All honey bee imports must also be accompanied by an official health certificate. You can obtain a health certificate from the relevant authority. You should retain your health certificate for 12 months after the arrival of the consignment.

General Licence for the import of honey bees to Jersey from British Islands

Example of isolation premises approval certificate for bees

Importing from the EU

You can import queen bees with up to 20 attendants into Jersey from any EU Member State as American foulbrood, Small hive beetle and Tropilaelaps mite are all notifiable throughout the EU. The Calabria and Sicily regions of Italy are unable to export due to safeguard measures imposed for an outbreak of Small hive beetle. Import of packages, nucleus or full colonies are not permitted. 

You will have to apply to the  animal health and welfare section at Natural Environment for a specific import licence and to have your apiary approved for isolation.

Example of isolation premises approval certificate for bees

Once you have a licence you can import queen bees into Jersey providing the bees satisfy the health requirements applicable from the EU. 

All queen bee imports must also be accompanied by an official health certificate (photocopies are not acceptable) on ‘Model QUE’ (queen honey bees and queen bumble bees), available from the GOV.UK website.

Bees: model health certificates on the GOV.UK website

The health certificate must be issued, no more than 24 hours prior to despatch, by the relevant authority in the country of origin and is valid for 10 days from the date of issue. 

Health certificate conditions

Queen honey bees and queen bumble bees from countries other than New Zealand must: 

• come from a territory in which AFB, Small hive beetle and Tropilaelaps mites are notifiable throughout the whole territory
• come from a breeding apiary which is supervised and controlled by the competent authority
• come from an area which is not the subject of any restrictions associated with an occurrence of AFB and where no such occurrence has taken place within at least 30 days prior to the issue of the present certificate. Where an outbreak has occurred previously, all hives within a 3km radius must have been checked by the competent authority and all infected hives burned or treated to the satisfaction of the competent authority within 30 days of the last recorded case
• come from hives (or colonies in the case of bumble bees) from which samples of the comb have been tested and found negative in the last 30 days for AFB as laid down in the OIE Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals
• come from an area of at least 100km radius which is not the subject of any restrictions associated with the occurrence of the Small hive beetle or the Tropilaelaps mite and where these infestations are absent
• have undergone detailed examinations to ensure that all bees and packaging do not contain Small hive beetle or their eggs or larvae, or other infestations in particular Tropilaelaps mites affecting bees
• come from hives (or colonies in the case of bumble bees) which were inspected immediately prior to despatch and show no clinical signs or suspicions of disease including infestations affecting bees
• ensure that the packing material, queen cages, accompanying products and food are new and have not been in contact with diseased bees or brood combs and all precautions have been taken to prevent contamination with agents causing diseases or infestations of bees

Upon receipt the queen must be transferred to a new cage, you must not use the queen cage provided by the exporter to introduce your queens. You must send the original cages, attendant worker bees and other material that accompanied the queen bees from their country of origin to Natural Environment within 5 days. The material will be examined for the presence of notifiable pests and diseases. Include with your parcel your; 

• name
• address
  
• contact number
• import licence number

Please ensure they are suitably packed for the postal service. 

You can obtain a health certificate from the relevant authority. You should retain your health certificate for 12 months after the arrival of the consignment.

Importing from eligible countries outside the EU

If you wish to import from outside the EU you should contact Natural Environment to discuss from which eligible countries imports will be permitted from, at present it may only be from New Zealand.

Notification of imports

It's a legal requirement that you notify the Animal health and welfare section at Natural Environment prior to the arrival of your consignment of bees. You can do this by completing a notification form.

After you have submitted the notification form you may be contacted by the department so that an inspector can arrange a visit. 

Importer notification form

Sale of bees

It's good practice to keep records of beekeepers to whom you have sold any imported bees to. This will enable Natural Environment to contact the new owner quickly in the event of any pests and diseases being found in the imported consignment.

Fireblight: Erminia amylovora (plant disease spread by bees)

Fireblight is a plant disease which is spread by bees and other pollen or nectar gathering insects. Jersey is free from Fireblight and is therefore deemed to be a Fireblight protected zone.

The movement of bee packages and hives into EU designated Fireblight protected zones between 15 March and 30 June are subject to the control measures set out in the Plant Health Directive (2000/29/EC).

You must provide documentary evidence that the bees or hives have either:

• originated from another eligible country outside the EU recognised free from Fireblight
  
• originated from one of the EU Fireblight protected zones
  
• undergone an appropriate quarantine measure restricting foraging activity at least 48 hours before arrival