Flujo de néctar en las regiones de España

Four bee diseases are listed for the whole EU: American foulbrood, small hive beetle (Aethina tumida), Tropilaelaps mites (all category D+E) and varroosis (category C+D+E) (Implementing Reg. 2018/1882, annex).

A beekeeper who suspects or detects one of these listed diseases must report it to the competent authority as soon as practicable, and must report abnormal deaths or serious disease of unknown cause to a veterinarian (Reg. 2016/429 art. 18(1)(b)-(c)).

Bees count as kept terrestrial animals, so an apiary must be registered with the competent authority before keeping starts, including its location and the number of colonies, and changes must be reported (Reg. 2016/429 arts 4, 84).

Registered beekeepers keep records of their colonies, movements, deaths, treatments and test results (Reg. 2016/429 art. 102), including for each apiary the place, start and end date and number of hives of any migratory move (Delegated Reg. 2019/2035 art. 27).

Honey bees are food-producing animals: record every veterinary medicine used (date, product, quantity, supplier, colonies treated, withdrawal period, treatment length) and keep the records for at least five years (Reg. 2019/6 art. 108).

Moving bees to another member state needs an animal health certificate from the country of origin; the colonies must show no signs of AFB, small hive beetle or Tropilaelaps, no AFB may have been reported within 3 km of the apiary in the last 30 days, and no small hive beetle or Tropilaelaps within 100 km. Bees may enter a varroa-free area only from another varroa-free area (Delegated Reg. 2020/688 arts 48, 50, 71).

Inspection schedules, reporting channels, deadlines and penalties are set by each member state's national law, so exact dates differ from country to country.

Every beekeeping holding (explotación apícola) must be registered in the REGA livestock register with the autonomous community — where the owner has their tax address, or where the hives stand for a stationary holding — stating whether it is migratory (trashumante) or stationary (estante) and for self-consumption (autoconsumo, at most 15 hives); changes must be reported within one month (RD 209/2002 arts 2, 5-6).

Every hive must be marked with the holding code, visibly, legibly and indelibly; a hive coming from another holding keeps its old code next to the new one (RD 787/2023 art. 13).

The holder keeps the holding register book (libro de registro), updated at all times and required for any hive movement, and reports the hive census to the autonomous community before 1 March every year, counting the hives prepared for wintering as at 31 December (RD 209/2002 art. 7).

Apiaries must keep at least 400 m from public buildings and town centres, 100 m from inhabited rural houses and livestock buildings, 200 m from national roads, 50 m from regional roads and 25 m from local tracks; road and track distances halve on a slope more than 2 m above the road, and all these may be cut by up to 75% behind a fence at least 2 m high (RD 209/2002 art. 8).

Varroa must be treated at least once a year, in September-November unless the autonomous community sets another period, with an authorised veterinary medicine under a veterinarian's supervision; the start and end date, type of treatment, dose, number of hives and product name are written in the register book (RD 608/2006 art. 6 and annex II).

A disease that could endanger the holding must be reported urgently to the competent authority (RD 209/2002 art. 10). Dead or abandoned colonies must be cleaned, disinfected or destroyed hygienically as soon as possible, or the authority does it at the owner's cost (RD 608/2006 art. 5); an apiary with more than half its hives dead counts as abandoned (RD 209/2002 art. 2).

Migratory beekeepers moving hives outside their autonomous community must send their planned moves for the next three months to their community at least one week before the first move; the stamped plan travels with the hives and the register book, and a change of destination community is reported within 48 hours. A stationary holding needs an official health certificate before moving hives or swarms. Hives travel with the entrance closed or covered by a mesh (RD 209/2002 art. 11).

Holdings with 15 or more hives must receive a veterinary animal-health visit (visita zoosanitaria) at a risk-based frequency set by the authority — from every 3 to every 18 months — and keep the signed report for at least three years; holdings under 15 hives are exempt (RD 346/2025 arts 3, 5, annexes I-II).

Fuentes: Regulation (EU) 2016/429 (Animal Health Law) · Implementing Reg. (EU) 2018/1882 · Delegated Regs (EU) 2019/2035 and 2020/688 · Reg. (EU) 2019/6 · Real Decreto 209/2002 (explotaciones apícolas) · RD 787/2023 · RD 346/2025 · RD 608/2006 (Programa nacional de enfermedades de las abejas)