Health Certificate
Lexikon
The health certificate under Section 5 of the Bee Disease Ordinance is a certificate from an official veterinarian that must be presented when bee colonies are moved into the district of another authority.
The health certificate under Section 5 of the Bee Disease Ordinance is a certificate from an official veterinarian that must be presented when bee colonies are moved into the district of another authority. It confirms that the bees were found free of American foulbrood and that the place of origin is not in a restricted zone.
The certificate may be issued no earlier than 1 September of the previous year and must not be older than nine months. It must be presented to the competent authority at the new location immediately after arrival. For temporary migrations, the authority enters the migration dates and any diseases found, and after the return to the home district the certificate is given back.
The certificate is normally based on an examination of the apiary, usually by means of samples of the honey stores around the brood, which are taken by a bee inspector and tested for spores of the foulbrood pathogen at an official laboratory. Anyone who wants to migrate should plan for this in good time, because weeks pass between sampling, the laboratory result, and issuance. The certificate is also required when colonies are sold across district boundaries.