> I wonder if Dave has his facts right?

On my reading of the final ruling, Dave is correct.

> These regs. were purposely drafted to do as much as possible to
> prevent US imports of mites and other parasites that we do not yet
have.

I agree with this principle and wouldn't wish any more pests on the US
beekeepers.  The certification that Dave talks about reads:-

"Certify that the hives from which the honeybees in the shipment were
derived were individually inspected by an official of the regulatory
agency no more than 10 days prior to export."

Also "Notice of Arrival - At least 10 business days prior to the arrival
in the United States of any shipment of bees or honeybee germ plasm
imported into the United States under this subpart, you must notify
APHIS of the impending arrival."

Now I wonder if the queen bee breeders and package producers in say
California or Georgia have to have this same inspection and
certification before they ship interstate?

> That said, Canada has always been the beneficiary of 'special' regs.
as regards importation
> of queens.  I have to wonder if those special regs. are still intact
and Dave is reading the > new regs to also apply to Canada?  Don't know,
just a guess.

The wording in the ruling is "single sanitary surveillance".  So all
countries now exporting to the US, those on the approved list, are under
the same conditions.  As Dave points out the US conditions are certainly
much tougher than the Canadian conditions for US queens to go to Canada.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA

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