Currently, honey and other bee products entering New Zealand from a number of Pacific island countries (PICs) must be accompanied by a zoosanitary certificate issued by the veterinary authority of the exporting country which certifies that:

• The honey originates from that country; and
• The country is free from European foulbrood (EFB) caused by Melissococcus pluton

Fiji is not included on the list of PICs covered by this Import Health Standard (IHS), so access to New Zealand would need to be negotiated. The New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), formerly the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, revised the IHS for Specified Processed Bee Products in June 2009. However, this standard is on hold while issues with a similar IHS for bee products from Australia are resolved. It is likely that any application to import bee products into New Zealand would not be considered until the new IHS for bee products has been established, which won’t be until 2014.

key words: honey, bees, European foulbrood (EFB), Chalkbrood, Small Hive Beetle (SHB), Deformed Wing Virus (DWV), mites, risk analysis, apiaries, colonies

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