Dear Beekeeping Colleague,
Information reached me last night that illegal importations of queens from Texas in the USA are being made into Spain, Portugal and France.  The total number of queens could be as high as 100,000.  The conditions and certification requirements  of the European Union have been made to prevent imports being made from the continental USA in order to prevent the introduction into Europe of the Small Hive Beetle (Aethina tumida) and Africanised bees which would be a disaster for the beekeeping industry in Europe.  
The importers, exporters and airline that carry the bees are all acting illegally as the USA is unable to satisfy the certification conditions of the European Union and the countries involved are not applying EU directive conditions for imports from third countries.  Needless to say these imports need to be stopped as soon as possible even though it is probably too late.  Please make representations to your authorities and beekeeping associations so that the problem is presented to the officials of the European Union so that action can be taken.
Best regards
Roger White
Superbee bees Cyprus.

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