# Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/689 of 17 December 2019 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards rules for surveillance, eradication programmes, and disease-free status for certain listed and emerging diseases (Text with EEA relevance), Section 2: Maintenance of the status of a Member State or zone free from infestation with varroa spp.

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

The status free from infestation with Varroa spp. granted to the relevant honeybee population of a Member State or of a zone may only be maintained if:
(a) the competent authority maintains a surveillance that:
(i) demonstrates the absence of infestations with Varroa spp. annually on a representative sample of kept honeybees of the free area;
(ii) enables the early detection of infestation with Varroa spp. in apiaries and beehives;
(iii) takes into consideration specifically target areas with higher likelihood of introduction of or infestation with Varroa spp., based on a risk assessment;
(b) all the suspected cases have been investigated and no case of infestation with Varroa spp. has been confirmed, either in kept or in wild honeybee colonies;
(c) either there is no wild self-sustaining population of the species of the genus Apis or there is an ongoing surveillance programme in the wild population which demonstrates no evidence of infestation with Varroa spp.; and
(d) the honeybees in any stage of their lifecycle, including honeybee brood, are only moved into the free area when:
(i) they come from a Member State or zone thereof or from a third country or territory with disease-free status regarding infestation with Varroa spp.; and
(ii) they are protected from infestation with Varroa spp. during transport.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2020/689/annex/V/section/2 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2020-689/annex-V/section-2
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.