Statutory duty to report apiaries with Varroosis 🙄 from 21st April

[Newbeeneil]

 

[DaveG23]

Are hobby beekeepers not owners or in charge of bee hives?
3A.—(1) An owner or person in charge of a hive who knows that any species of the Varroa mite (Varroosis) is present within that hive must give notice of that fact to the Secretary of State as soon as is practicable.

Would the fact I'm busy living the rest of my life make it impracticable within the eyes of this law?

As written this insertion in to the 2006 Act does apply to hobby beekeepers as you point out. The clause beneath it seems to refer to (male) bee inspectors. 'Any other person.. course of his occupation..', i.e. any person other than the owner who due to their occupation is looking in to the hive.

The unlimited fine for non compliance is interesting, have tax revenues dropped dramatically in the UK?

Maybe some written guidance will resolve this.

Varroa is not notifable here in Ireland, yet...

 

[B+.]

Perhaps they should reconsider the impact statement

" An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact, or no significant impact, on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. "

 

[Bear]

How can they prove that you "know it"?

Could visit any apiary that is registered on beebase, ask for an inspection. Then that’s where the trouble starts.

 

[beekeepershens]

not everyone has varroa, we live in a varroa free area and as you may imagine we are keen to keep it that way, I was shocked once when I asked that suppliers of nuc's etc respected our varroa free status to be told we have it, so just accept so will you as in so should you

 

[Beegarden]

I wonder if they would like us all to tell them if we have cold symptoms at the same time, just for the record! Then we can tell them again when we don't have them.

 

[madasafish]

How can they prove that you "know it"?

It is a well accepted rule in UK law that "ignorance of the law is no excuse"

"Please your Honour I was doing 150mph down Pall Mall as I was unaware the speed limit was 30mph"

 

[ShinySideUp]

I've just stumbled across this thread and I find myself very confused indeed.

Is this actually true? With three weeks between anyone knowing about it to the point where it becomes law with an unlimited fine and no direct communication to any beekeepers, I fail to understand what the hell this is about. Of course my hives have at least a few varroa, whose doesn't? Varroa have been in hives since 1986 and a government department has come up with this now? Nothing in the news, no email from the BBKA or Beebase or the NBU, without this forum how is anyone supposed to know about this? Is there a form to fill in -- it's the government, there has to be? Will I get an official request for information?

If they start f****** around like this and threatening me, a hobbyist keeper with four hives, I shall just give up, petrol the lot of them and send their cold dead bodies to the person who thought up this piece of c***.

 

[Hachi]

Words fail me!

 

[Swn58]

As written this insertion in to the 2006 Act does apply to hobby beekeepers as you point out. The clause beneath it seems to refer to (male) bee inspectors. 'Any other person.. course of his occupation..', i.e. any person other than the owner who due to their occupation is looking in to the hive.

The unlimited fine for non compliance is interesting, have tax revenues dropped dramatically in the UK?

Maybe some written guidance will resolve this.

Varroa is not notifable here in Ireland, yet...

I've just written to them, pointing out that varroa to bees is like fleas to cats. Almost every cat has fleas at some point? My bees have varroa, but I control it. I have asked if they need to know all of my hive changes from varroa free, to varroa back etc. as it happens. I will keep you informed, if they get back to me!

 

[gmonag]

Stop panicking everyone. It is just a bureaucratic catch-up to fall in line with international law re. imports/exports of bees.

 

[Murox]

I've just written to them, pointing out that varroa to bees is like fleas to cats. Almost every cat has fleas at some point? My bees have varroa, but I control it. I have asked if they need to know all of my hive changes from varroa free, to varroa back etc. as it happens. I will keep you informed, if they get back to me!

IF

 

[DaveG23]

I've just written to them, pointing out that varroa to bees is like fleas to cats. Almost every cat has fleas at some point? My bees have varroa, but I control it. I have asked if they need to know all of my hive changes from varroa free, to varroa back etc. as it happens. I will keep you informed, if they get back to me!

Should be amusing to see how many emails they get and the reply's.

I expect the difference between what the law says and how it will be regulated is the key issue, i.e. they really dont want the headache of 'policing' the reporting from every bee keeper, it will no doubt be a voluntary basis for hobbyists with perhaps more formal requirements for exporters.

 

[B+.]

I've just written to them, pointing out that varroa to bees is like fleas to cats. Almost every cat has fleas at some point? My bees have varroa, but I control it. I have asked if they need to know all of my hive changes from varroa free, to varroa back etc. as it happens. I will keep you informed, if they get back to me!

Even though you've treated your bees, I think you'd be wrong to assume they are mite-free. It would make more sense to look at the areas which are considered mite-free and give them "protection" until such time as mites are found, at which point their status is changed to "endemic" like the rest of the UK.

 

[Erichalfbee]

This is what one of our forum members got from his SBI today.
Please read it then I can close the thread at the end of the day.



Thank you very much for your email and I hope you are keeping well.
There will shortly be an announcement from the NBU on this, we are awaiting the message to be cascaded down from policy.
What you’ve heard is true, Varroa will become a reportable from 21st April 2021. This new measure is coming in place to facilitate trade and more specifically exports, with the EU. For us to be able to export bees to the EU now that we are listed as Third Country, we need equivalent rules, and that’s why The Bee Diseases and Pest Control (England) Order 2006 has recently been amended. Some EU countries are Varroa free – Azores in Portugal for example. Without this amendment we would be blocking out any exports to the EU.
That change won’t impact beekeepers or bee farmers much. There will be a tick box on BeeBase that they can tick to notify they’ve got Varroa. In addition the box will be also ticked by inspectors if they’ve come out to an apiary and have seen Varroa. There are no restrictions imposed for beekeepers or bee farmers, and the fact that you’ve got Varroa doesn’t mean you can’t continue as normal, so as you can see is a very light touch amendment.

We will forward you the announcement once is ready, I hope the info provided above helps in the meantime.
Thanks,

 

[Beegarden]

This is what one of our forum members got from his SBI today.
Please read it then I can close the thread at the end of the day.



Thank you very much for your email and I hope you are keeping well.
There will shortly be an announcement from the NBU on this, we are awaiting the message to be cascaded down from policy.
What you’ve heard is true, Varroa will become a reportable from 21st April 2021. This new measure is coming in place to facilitate trade and more specifically exports, with the EU. For us to be able to export bees to the EU now that we are listed as Third Country, we need equivalent rules, and that’s why The Bee Diseases and Pest Control (England) Order 2006 has recently been amended. Some EU countries are Varroa free – Azores in Portugal for example. Without this amendment we would be blocking out any exports to the EU.
That change won’t impact beekeepers or bee farmers much. There will be a tick box on BeeBase that they can tick to notify they’ve got Varroa. In addition the box will be also ticked by inspectors if they’ve come out to an apiary and have seen Varroa. There are no restrictions imposed for beekeepers or bee farmers, and the fact that you’ve got Varroa doesn’t mean you can’t continue as normal, so as you can see is a very light touch amendment.

We will forward you the announcement once is ready, I hope the info provided above helps in the meantime.
Thanks,

Some sanity on the horizon. Thank you for that, Dani. It's a shame, though, that all those on Beebase didn't get a similar email.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Some sanity on the horizon. Thank you for that, Dani. It's a shame, though, that all those on Beebase didn't get a similar email.

If people had bothered to look in beebase - the message is there for everyone to see

https://nationalbeeunit.com/public/News/news.cfm#275