It seems that “standards” come into play at international borders. With respect to trade in live bees, the standards for risk assessment and protocols for testing and monitoring honey bee pests and diseases are recommended by the OIE which is recognized by the WTO as “the international standard setting organisation for animal health and zoonotic diseases” under the terms of its Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement).  According to this agreement, “WTO Members should align their import requirements with the recommendations in the relevant standards of the OIE” as set out in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code (Terrestrial Code). The code “sets out standards for the improvement of terrestrial animal health and welfare and veterinary public health worldwide, and for safe international trade in terrestrial animals (mammals, reptiles, birds and bees) and their products.”   The OIE recommends that, 

“the health measures in the Terrestrial Code should be used by the Veterinary Authorities of importing and exporting countries for early detection, reporting and control of agents pathogenic to terrestrial animals and, in the case of zoonoses, for humans, and to prevent their transfer via international trade in terrestrial animals and their products, while avoiding unjustified sanitary barriers to trade. ”

The OIE also publishes a Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals (Terrestrial Manual) to assist laboratories and regulatory authorities in member countries with the design of their veterinary diagnostic tests and surveillance protocols for pathogens, pests and diseases.  A primary objective of the Manual is to “provide internationally agreed diagnostic laboratory methods and requirements for the production and control of relevant vaccines and other biological products.”  See http://www.oie.int/manual-of-diagnostic-tests-and-vaccines-for-terrestrial-animals/

Standards related to honey bee pathogens, pests and diseases are worked out through one of the OIE’s specialist commissions known as the “Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases.” In recent years, the hard labour of drafting new standards and revising existing ones for honey bees was delegated to an “Ad Hoc Group on Diseases of Honey Bees” which met several times between 2010 and 2012.  The current OIE standards for honey bees were drafted by the seven honey bee scientists who were members of this group.  Members of the Ad Hoc Group included Dr. Mike Allsopp (South Africa), Dr. Mariano Bacci (Argentina), Dr. Pierangelo Bernorio (Belgium), Dr. Rafael Calderon (Costa Rica), Dr. Marie-Pierre Chauzat (France), Dr. Jeffery S. Pettis (United States), Dr. Howard Pharo (New Zealand), and Dr. Wolfgang Ritter (Germany). See Meeting of the OIE Ad Hoc Group on Diseases of Honey Bees, Paris, 10-12 July 2012,  Appendix 2, https://www.oie.int/doc/ged/D12109.PDF

See “Procedures used by the OIE to set standards and recommendations for international trade, with a focus on the Terrestrial and Aquatic Animal Health Codes.” http://www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home/eng/Internationa_Standard_Setting/docs/pdf/A_OIE_procedures_standards_2016.pdf

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