The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has posted on its website, in the "Transparency in Decision-Making" section, a draft Order approving the eligibility criteria, supporting documents, conditions, and implementation methods for the apiculture sector interventions within the Strategic Plan for CAP 2023-2027, funded from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund and the state budget.

The financial support provided to the apiculture sector through the apiculture interventions for the period 2023-2027 will be ensured from the budget allocated by the EAGF and has a value of 60,816,300 euros, with an annual allocation of 12,163,260 euros, of which 50% is the contribution of the European Union and 50% is the contribution of Romania.

The deadline for submitting the payment application and accompanying documents is August 4th of each year. As a general rule, expenses related to apiculture interventions included in the Strategic Plan for CAP 2023-2027 are incurred by applicants between January 1st and August 4th of each year of application.

However, for the year 2023, expenses related to apiculture interventions included in the Strategic Plan for CAP 2023-2027 will be incurred by applicants between the date of entry into force of this order and August 4th, 2023, inclusive.

The beneficiaries of the apiculture interventions can be:

a) Beekeepers, individuals, legal entities, sole traders, and family businesses established in accordance with Government Emergency Ordinance No. 44/2008;

b) Associations, federations, agricultural cooperatives, unions, formed by beekeepers in accordance with the applicable legislation, hereinafter referred to as legally constituted beekeeping associations.

Legally constituted beekeeping associations accessing these interventions must operate in accordance with the national legislation in force at the date of the payment application.

The general eligibility conditions for interventions accessed by beekeepers are:

a) Possessing competence in apiculture;

b) Possessing beehives identified by the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) in accordance with the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Order No. 251/2017 approving the Unified System for the Identification of Apiaries and Beehives;

c) Possessing and completing the beekeeping record book with all the activities carried out in the apiary (movement of bee colonies, treatments, pastoral migrations) at the time they occur;

d) Purchasing medicines for the treatment of varroosis and/or nosemosis necessary for the entire stock of bee colonies, both owned and purchased, regardless of the accessed intervention.

The beneficiaries of the apiculture interventions directly apply for financial support through a notarized authorized person or their legal representative and submit the payment application at the headquarters of the county centers of the Payment and Intervention Agency for Agriculture (APIA) or the Bucharest Municipality center.

The apiculture sector interventions are those provided in Article 1 of Government Decision No. 1571/2022, namely:

a) Counseling services, technical assistance, training, information, and exchange of good practices, including through network collaboration, for beekeepers and beekeeping organizations - intervention IS-A-01 provided in the PS 2023-2027;

b) Promotion, communication, and marketing, including market monitoring actions and activities aimed at raising consumer awareness of the quality of beekeeping products - intervention IS-A-02;

c) Acquisition by legally constituted beekeeping associations of equipment for wax processing to obtain artificial honeycombs, as well as equipment for honey packaging - intervention IS-A-03 provided in the PS 2023-2027;

d) Combating aggressors and specific diseases of beehives, especially varroosis - intervention IS-A-04 provided in the PS 2023-2027, including the purchase of medicines - intervention IS-A 04-01 provided in the PS 2023-2027;

e) Rationalizing transhumance - intervention IS-A-05 provided in the PS 2023-2027;

f) Repopulating hives in the Union, including bee improvement - intervention IS-A-06 provided in the PS 2023-2027;

g) Supporting analysis laboratories for beekeeping products, bee losses, or decreased productivity, as well as substances potentially toxic to bees - intervention IS-A-07 provided in the PS 2023-2027.