Thanks for your replies Peter.
 
I think that what you have said amounts to 'there are no controls in  
respect of the issue of resistance to known pests and diseases'.  All  that is 
required is that exports be 'pest and disease free' to a certain  standard.  
Does that summary work for you?
 
Manwithbees wrote:
 
"under WTO rules the US needs to "prove" that the Australian bees have some 
 pest or pathogen that is not currently present in the US."
 
So it seems at present that US import controls (under WTO  guidelines) make 
no distinction between stock that is 'resistant' to pest and  disease in 
either a broad sense or one specific to particular problems (in the  case of 
bees).  The sole control lies with the purchaser.  
 
This seems to me be cause for concern in the case of an animal whose  
breeding cannot be practically controlled.  It opens the door to poorly  
resistant stock that will mate with and thus downgrade existing stocks, tending  to 
perpetuate the difficulties.   
 
This problem might be ameliorated to a degree if the importers themselves,  
perhaps at the instigation of buyers, could distinguish between imports 
likely  to worsen their problems in the long run and those likely to contribute 
to an  improvement in health.  But that seems problematic.  For one thing 
it  runs counter to the bald interest of several of the parties involved.  
For  another oversight and certification would be expensive to say the least, 
and  quite possible largely impractical.
 
The difficulties could also lessened by exporting countries making a  
greater effort to supply stock of a more desirable kind.  But as Peter has  
outlined, that seems problematic for other good reasons, though some Aussie  
breeders are making a strong effort.  (Peter hasn't told us what  proportion of 
Aussie bees arriving in the US are likely to have be carefully  raised from 
varroa resistant stock, either now or in the future.)    
 
Failing such controls, we are left with the purchasers.  If the bloom  
growers were able to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy bees (where that  
term is equivalent to broad-spectrum resistant) they could, if they felt it 
 suited their purposes, apply pressure for healthy bees.  Simply paying  a 
little more for colonies that are evaluated healthy, and likely to  improve 
rather than downgrade the heath of US bees,  would help beekeepers choose to 
take care of the genetic health of  their stock rather than simply relying 
on addictive treatments that are  destructive of the health of the national 
stock.  That is, the stock  belonging to their fellow beekeepers.  
 
Mike
 


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