BREED

• Take into account of the animal’s ability to adapt to local conditions or their vitality and their resistance to disease.
• The hives must be made basically of natural materials presenting no risk of contamination to the environment or the apiculture product.

FEED

• The feed must be honey, organic sugar syrup or organic sugar.

HEALTH CARE AND MEDICAL

• Use of veterinary medicinal products in beekeeping shall have the following:
• For protecting the frames, the bees and the honeycombs in particular from parasites, the only rodent killers (to be used only in traps) are those permitted in the Standards
• Physical treatment such as steam or direct flame are permitted.
• Practice of removal of male brood is only permitted to contain an infestation of Varroa destructor.
• Phytotherapeutic and homeopathic products shall be used in preference to chemically synthesized allopathic products
• Allopathic chemically synthesized medicinal products for preventive treatment is prohibited.
• Use of chemical synthetic repellents is prohibited during honey extraction operations.

• Hives shall be situated in organically managed fields and/or wild natural areas.
• Hives shall not be placed close to fields or other areas where chemical pesticides and herbicides are used.
• Each bee hive shall primarily consist of natural materials. Use of construction materials with potentially toxic effects are prohibited.
• Persistent materials may not be used in beehives.
• Veterinary medicine shall not be used in bee keeping.
• When working with the bees (e.g. at harvest) no repellent consisting of prohibited substances shall be used.

For pest and disease control and for hive disinfection the following products shall be allowed:

• caustic soda
• lactic, oxalic, acetic acid
• formic acid
• sulphur
• etheric oils
• Bacillus thuringiensis

Apiaries shall be placed in areas which ensure nectar and pollen sources consisting essentially of organically produced crops or, as appropriate, of spontaneous vegetation or non-organically managed forests or crops that are only treated with low environmental impact methods.

Apiaries shall be kept at sufficient distant from sources that my lead to the contamination of beekeeping products or to the poor health of the bees.

Hives and materials used in beekeeping shall be mainly made of natural materials.

The destruction of bees in the combs as a methods associated with the harvesting of beekeeping products is prohibited.

Replacement bees (eg package bees or nucleus colonies) may be from organic sources or from non organic sources provided that replacement bees are managed in accordance with this standard for at least 60 days before the removal of organic apiculture products from the hive.

Honey and other apiculture products shall not be labeled or marketed as organic unless the bees were managed in accordance with this standard for at least 60 days.

Organic honey shall be the major foodstuff for adult bees:-

• The feeding of colonies can be undertaken to overcome temporary feed shortages owing to climatic or other exceptional circumstances.
• In such cases, organically produced honey or sugars shall be used if commercially available. If unavailable, the certification body may permit the use of non-organically produced honey or sugars for a specified time limit.

• Artificial insemination is prohibited.
• It is not permitted the production of honey and other bee products in the area of conventional agriculture.
• It is permitted only in the area of organic agriculture or traditional ( without the use of pesticides ) and native forests or natural.
• The processing of organic honey in the same processing unit is allowed to conventional honey with different lots are perfectly separated.
• It is prohibited the application of insecticides, fungicides, antibiotics and other pesticides on bees and boxes.

FEED

• The feeding bees may be with organic brown sugar or granulated sugar organic, 10 % own or wild honey and water within fifteen days before flowering.
• The addition of extracts of other herbs, native or certified in food is permitted.

HEALTH AND MEDICAL CARE

The health of hives can be achieved with proper care and management , through the choice of appropriate breeds or breed.

The drugs permitted for use in the hives and bees are:

• Formic Acid
• Acetic acid
• Lactic acid
• Oxalic acid
• Essential oils
• Camphor
• Bacillus thuringiensis

To produce smoke, use only natural wood without chemical treatment. The use of smoke should be kept to a minimum.

Cleaning and disinfection of hives can only be made by physical methods such as heat, fire, scraping or brushing.

The destruction of bees and beehives as a method of harvesting is prohibited.