Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the measures concerning the apiculture sector of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products

The European Union (EU) apiculture sector is small compared to other agricultural sectors but provides part of pollination services to EU agriculture. EU beekeepers have to face many challenges in order to maintain their beehives and honey production. Increasing costs, strong competition with cheap honey imports from third countries, bees' colonies losses, diseases, beehives' invaders combined with a deteriorating forage environment are putting pressure on the sector.

The EU has been supporting directly the beekeeping sector since 1997. Successive Market Regulations gave the possibility for Member States to draw up national programmes for their apiculture sector. The objective of these programmes is to improve general conditions for production and marketing apiculture products, which include not only honey but also royal jelly, pollen, propolis or beeswax. The programmes are co-financed by the European Union at a 50% rate and last for three years.

Article 225 (a) of Council Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products states that the Commission shall present a report to the European Parliament and the Council every three years and for the first time by 21 December 2016 on the implementation of the measures concerning the apiculture sector as set out in Articles 55, 56 and 57, including on the latest developments on beehive identification systems.

This report meets that obligation, covering apiculture years 2013, 2014 and 2015. As national apiculture programmes run for three years, these apiculture years correspond to the last year of the previous triennal apiculture programmes (2011-2013) and the first two years of the current programme (2014-2016). All Member States notified a national apiculture programme for the periods 2011-2013 and 2014-2016. This shows the strong interest of Member States and the needs of the sector.

During the three apiculture years covered by this report, Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation) was still in force; therefore the changes introduced regarding the apiculture sector by the reform of the CAP in 2013 were not yet implemented. Nevertheless, this report presents the main legislative changes introduced by the reform of the CAP as well as the latest information available regarding the developments on beehive identification systems.

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