Register your bees in the UK: BeeBase and the law

Do you have to register bees in the UK? BeeBase and DataBees explained, the Hive Count, reporting varroa, notifiable diseases, medicine records and imports.

You do not have to register your bees in the UK: the National Bee Unit (NBU) says plainly that registering on BeeBase “is not a legal requirement”, and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish registers are voluntary too. What the law does require is that you report varroa in your hives (England, Wales and Scotland, since 21 April 2021), notify any suspected notifiable disease or pest at once, obey a standstill notice, keep veterinary medicine records for 5 years, and follow strict rules if you import bees or sell honey. Registration on BeeBase is free, takes ten minutes, and is the easiest way to meet the varroa duty.

This guide sets out what is compulsory and what is simply wise, nation by nation, using the NBU’s own legal pages, the Bee Diseases and Pests Control Orders and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) guidance as they stand in October 2026. If you have not yet got your first colony, start with our guide on how to start beekeeping, which places registration among the other first steps.

Do you have to register your bees in the UK?

No national law obliges a hobby beekeeper in any part of the UK to register their hives or obtain a licence. That surprises beekeepers arriving from France, Ireland or many US states, where annual declaration is compulsory. The UK relies instead on voluntary registration combined with a handful of statutory duties that apply whether you are registered or not.

England and Wales: BeeBase

BeeBase is the database run by the National Bee Unit, part of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), for Defra in England and the Welsh Government in Wales. The NBU’s legal page states that “Registering with BeeBase is not a legal requirement”, and the Welsh Government page on healthy honey bees says it “strongly recommend[s]” that beekeepers register their apiaries and adds that registration is free. Inspections in both nations are carried out by NBU Regional and Seasonal Bee Inspectors.

Scotland: BeeBase and the Scottish Government bee health team

Scotland uses BeeBase too, but bee health policy belongs to the Scottish Government, and its bee inspectors sit within the Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate (RPID). The Scottish guidance says only that “Beekeepers are encouraged to register on BeeBase.” Samples are analysed at SASA in Edinburgh, which also offers Scottish beekeepers a free service screening hive debris for varroa and adult bees for acarine, nosema and varroa damage after unexplained colony loss. Scottish beekeepers who prefer not to register can still meet their varroa duty by emailing the Scottish bee health team at [email protected].

Northern Ireland: DataBees

Northern Ireland has its own system. DAERA invites beekeepers to register “voluntary registration of beekeepers and their apiaries on DataBees”, with no fee either for registration or for statutory control inspections. DAERA asks only beekeepers whose apiaries are in Northern Ireland to sign up, and BeeBase in turn is meant only for apiaries in England, Scotland and Wales. The legal framework in Northern Ireland is the Bees (Northern Ireland) Order 1980, the Bee Diseases and Pests Control Order (Northern Ireland) 2007 and its 2010 amendment.

Why register on BeeBase if it is voluntary?

Because the NBU cannot protect colonies it does not know about. When American or European foulbrood is confirmed in an apiary, BeeBase sends an email to every registered beekeeper with an apiary within 3 km, asking them to check their colonies, and gives inspectors a priority list of apiaries to visit, ordered by distance from the outbreak. An NBU article published in BBKA News in 2021 warns that unregistered colonies inside a disease zone can act as reservoirs and help the infection come back after it has been cleared.

Registration also brings practical benefits:

Free inspections. The BBKA confirms that no charge is made for an apiary visit by a fully qualified bee inspector. You can ask for one if you are worried about disease, and the inspector will also advise on husbandry.
Your own records. Inspection reports for your apiaries stay on your account, which is useful when you sell nucs or move colonies.
Alerts and resources. You receive pest and disease alerts for your area, plus access to a beekeeping diary, a varroa calculator, e-learning on pests and viruses, and the NBU fact sheets.
A single place to meet the varroa duty. Reporting varroa takes one click on your apiary record.
Evidence for policy. The annual Hive Count, built from BeeBase records, gives the bee health programmes their estimate of colony numbers.

The NBU states that BBKA and Bee Farmers’ Association membership lists are not integrated with BeeBase, so joining your local association does not register you with the NBU. You have to sign up separately.

What not registering does not change

Staying off BeeBase does not put you outside the law. The Bees Act 1980, which allows ministers to make the Disease and Pest Control Orders, also gives authorised persons powers of entry for surveillance, inspection and certification. An inspector tracing an outbreak, or following up a report from a neighbour, can therefore visit an unregistered apiary just as they can a registered one, and the same notification and standstill duties apply. The difference is only that nobody will warn you when foulbrood is found down the road, and the inspector may reach your colonies later in the investigation, when an infection has had more time to spread. For a beekeeper with a single hive in a town garden, that delay is the main risk of staying anonymous.

How to register on BeeBase, step by step

Registration is done online at the BeeBase website and takes a few minutes.

Create your beekeeper record. Give your name, postal address, telephone number and email address. You log in with a BeeBase username, which is not the same as your email address; keep a note of it, because you will need it for the Hive Count.
Add each apiary. An apiary is any site where you keep colonies. Enter its address or a precise location, ideally with a grid reference or postcode, and the number of colonies. A garden, an allotment plot and an out-apiary on a farm are three separate apiaries.
Set the varroa status. Mark the apiary as varroa-positive if you have seen mites, which is the case for almost every colony in Great Britain.
Keep it up to date. Add new sites, delete abandoned ones, and update colony numbers at least once a year during the Hive Count.

Two situations need care. If two beekeepers keep bees at the same address, for example on one allotment site, the BBKA notes that they must contact the NBU office to be registered separately rather than share a record. And if you take over colonies from someone else, register the apiary in your own name; the inspector needs to know who is legally in charge of the hives.

The BeeBase Hive Count: 1 November to 31 December

Each year the NBU and the Scottish Honey Bee Health Team ask registered beekeepers to confirm how many colonies they hold. The Hive Count runs annually from 1 November to 31 December and records hives owned on 1 November. The 2026 count therefore opens on 1 November 2026 and closes on 31 December 2026.

You update your figures through the Hive Count link on BeeBase, which is only live during the count. The NBU asks beekeepers who have lost all their colonies to log in and record zero rather than ignore the request, so the totals stay reliable. Enquiries go to the NBU on 0300 3030094, with a separate address for Scottish beekeepers.

Year	UK hives recorded by the Hive Count
2021	272,631
2022	288,311
2023	252,577
2024	about 252,647

The NBU says over 9,500 beekeepers completed the 2024 Hive Count and describes the 2024 result as a total UK population of approximately 252,647 hives. Taking part is not compulsory, but a count that omits unregistered and silent beekeepers understates the real number of colonies.

Reporting varroa: a legal duty since 21 April 2021

Varroa is the one pest you must report even though nearly every beekeeper has it. The Bee Diseases and Pests Control (England) (Amendment) Order 2021 inserted a new article 3A into the 2006 Order, in force from 21 April 2021. Parallel amendment orders apply in Wales and in Scotland (SSI 2021/91). The Scottish Government explains that the change aligns Great Britain with animal health law and supports the continued export of queen bees to the EU and Northern Ireland.

Under article 3A:

the owner or person in charge of a hive who knows that any species of varroa mite is present must notify the Secretary of State (in practice the NBU) “as soon as is practicable”;
anyone who discovers varroa in a hive in the course of their work, for example an inspector, has the same duty;
one notice covers all the hives at that location.

The Explanatory Note to the English order states that breaching any provision of the Order is an offence punishable on summary conviction by an unlimited fine.

How to report

If you are registered, log in and edit the status of your apiary. Apiaries registered before April 2021 were set as varroa-positive by default, so many beekeepers have already complied without knowing it. If you are not registered, the NBU provides a separate reporting form. The duty is a one-off: you only contact the NBU again if your apiary becomes free of varroa, for instance after you lose all your colonies and restart with mite-free stock.

Reporting varroa says nothing about how well you control it. For monitoring thresholds, treatment windows and the products authorised in the UK, see our guide to varroa mites.

Notifiable diseases and pests: what you must report

Whether or not you are registered, the Bee Diseases and Pests Control Orders make it a legal requirement to notify the authorities “if you know or suspect” that your colonies have a notifiable disease or pest. In England and Wales the notifiable list is:

American foulbrood (AFB), caused by Paenibacillus larvae;
European foulbrood (EFB), caused by Melissococcus plutonius;
small hive beetle (Aethina tumida), which has never been found in the UK;
any species of Tropilaelaps mite, also absent from the UK.

The same four are notifiable in Scotland, and the Northern Ireland Order of 2007 names the same two diseases and two pests. In England and Wales you contact the NBU or your local bee inspector; in Scotland you notify your local bee inspector or email [email protected]; in Northern Ireland you contact DAERA’s bee inspectors.

What happens after you report

An inspector arranges a visit, examines every colony and takes samples. In Scotland these go to SASA; in England and Wales the NBU runs its own laboratory. If a notifiable disease or pest is confirmed, the inspector serves a standstill notice. The NBU is explicit that complying with it is a legal requirement: no colony, comb, hive part or bee product may leave the apiary until the notice is officially lifted. Standstill notices can also be served if an inspector is refused access or if illegal use of veterinary medicines is suspected.

The Orders then allow control measures such as destruction, treatment and restrictions on moving hives. AFB colonies are destroyed by burning, with the pit and equipment dealt with under supervision. EFB colonies may be treated, usually by shook swarm, or destroyed if the infection is heavy. Follow-up inspections check that the disease has not returned. The honey bee diseases page describes the symptoms that should make you pick up the phone.

Yellow-legged hornet (Asian hornet)

Vespa velutina nigrithorax is not on the notifiable list for bee diseases, but it is a non-native invasive species and GB governments ask for every suspected sighting to be reported to the GB Non-Native Species Secretariat. Use the free Asian Hornet Watch app first, or the NNSS online form, or email [email protected] with a photograph and a location. Official guidance now calls it the yellow-legged hornet; both names refer to the same insect. Our Asian hornet page explains how to tell it from the native hornet.

Medicine records: what the Veterinary Medicines Directorate requires

Honey bees are food-producing animals in law, so every medicine you put in a hive is covered by the Veterinary Medicines Regulations. The NBU warns that using unauthorised medicines is an offence, and so is failing to keep records.

What to record

The NBU’s fact sheet 28, a ready-made Veterinary Medicine Administration Record, lists the information you need:

When	What to note
At purchase	Supplier’s name and address, date, product name and quantity
At administration	Date, hive numbers, treatment duration, withdrawal period, total quantity used, name of the person who applied it
If not used	Date and method of disposal, product, batch number and quantity
Always	Your name, address and the apiary name or location

Keep proof of purchase alongside the record. A till receipt from a beekeeping supplier is enough. If you prefer to keep it online, our veterinary medicine record follows the same columns and prints a clean copy for an inspector.

How long to keep it

The VMD’s guidance on bee medicines says records must be kept “for 5 years after the medicine is given to the bees”, even if you no longer have the colonies. If you treat in August 2026, the record must survive until August 2031.

Which products you may use

Only products authorised by the VMD, or those a vet prescribes under the cascade, may be used. Products are authorised separately for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, though some authorised before January 2021 hold a UK-wide authorisation. Check the VMD’s Product Information Database before buying, especially if you order from an overseas website: a product sold legally in France or Germany is not automatically legal in a British hive.

Moving and importing bees

Moving colonies within Great Britain needs no permit or movement declaration, which is a real difference from most European countries. The only restriction is a standstill notice, which overrides everything else. Bringing bees across a border is a different matter.

Importing from the EU into Great Britain

The NBU’s import guidance is short and strict:

Allowed: queen bees with up to 20 attendants, and bumble bees.
Not allowed: packages, nucleus colonies and full colonies.
Paperwork: every consignment must be notified on IPAFFS, the Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System, and travel with a health certificate from the exporting country’s competent authority, a copy of which is uploaded to IPAFFS before the import.
Checks: bee inspectors make risk-based checks at the address given in the notification. If an inspector contacts you, you must hold the consignment until it is released.
Queen cages: do not introduce the queen in the exporter’s cage. Transfer her to a new cage, then within 5 days send the original cages, attendants and packaging for examination, to Fera Science at York for England and Wales or to SASA in Edinburgh for Scotland, quoting your IPAFFS reference.

From countries outside the EU, the NBU’s 2026 guidance for importers limits honey bee imports to queens, each in a single cage with no more than 20 attendant workers. New Zealand is the exception: under a bilateral veterinary agreement, packages of a queen with about 15,000 workers may also be imported. Non-EU consignments must enter through a Border Control Post. The same guidance lists safeguard restrictions in force in April 2026 on Calabria, Lazio and Sicily in Italy and on Réunion because of small hive beetle, and on Ukraine because of Tropilaelaps.

Between Great Britain and Northern Ireland

A move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland counts as an export. Only queens may be sent, after an apiary inspection by an Official Veterinarian who signs an Export Health Certificate, and the consignment is notified through TRACES NT. Expect to pay the vet’s fee; the bee inspector who attends the inspection charges nothing.

Buying locally reared bees avoids all of this and gives you colonies adapted to the British climate, sometimes of the native dark bee type. Local associations can usually put you in touch with members who sell nucs each spring.

Allotments, landlords and insurance

Where national law is silent, private and local rules take over. Before you set up a hive, check your tenancy agreement, lease, title deeds and, above all, your allotment rules.

Councils that allow bees on allotments typically attach conditions. Croydon’s rules for beekeeping on allotments, for example, require the beekeeper to belong to a beekeeping association, to register all hives on BeeBase, to hold public liability insurance of at least £5 million, to keep no more than 2 hives and 1 nucleus per plot, to screen the plot with hedges of at least 2 metres, and either to hold the BBKA Basic Assessment or to be mentored and pass it within 24 months. So a register that is voluntary at national level can become compulsory through your plot agreement.

Rules vary from one landlord to the next: some only encourage BeeBase registration, others insist on it, and hive limits, screening and the siting of hives are usually agreed with the council or society in advance. Read your own rules in full: breaking them is usually grounds for ending the tenancy, whatever national law says.

Insurance is the other half. BBKA registered, partner, honorary and junior members are covered by a public and product liability policy with a £10,000,000 limit for beekeeping activities in the UK, which is why most allotment societies accept BBKA membership as proof of cover. Bee Diseases Insurance (BDI), a separate members’ organisation whose cover applies only in England and Wales, insures beekeepers against the consequences of notifiable disease; its basic premium of £2 a year per member covers 1 to 3 colonies.

For the siting itself (flight paths, screens, distance from paths and neighbours), see our guide on where to put a beehive.

Selling honey: labelling and food business rules

Selling honey brings in a different set of rules, enforced by local trading standards and environmental health officers rather than the NBU. The composition and labelling of honey are governed by the Honey (England) Regulations 2015 and the equivalent regulations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which share the same definitions. Northern Ireland now diverges on blends: under the Windsor Framework it follows the EU directive that, from 14 June 2026, requires a blend to list each country of origin with its percentage, in descending order of weight.

Trading standards guidance for England and Wales, updated in March 2026, sets out what a prepacked jar must carry:

the name “honey”, or a reserved name such as comb honey, chunk honey or pressed honey if the product meets its definition;
the country or countries of harvest, for example “Product of the UK”, or “blend of honeys from more than one country” for a blend in Great Britain;
a best before date, ideally with day, month and year;
the net quantity in grams or kilograms, in figures at least 4 mm high for most jars; imperial units such as “1 lb” may appear but must be no more prominent than the metric figure, which is why a standard 1 lb jar is labelled 454 g;
the name and address of the producer or food business operator;
a lot mark, which may be the best before date if it includes at least the day and month.

A floral or regional name is allowed only if it is accurate: “heather honey” must come mainly from heather, and a place name requires the honey to come wholly from that place.

If you sell regularly, at a farmers’ market or through a shop, contact your local council’s environmental health team. Councils ask new food business establishments to register 28 days before they start trading, and registration is free and cannot be refused. Whether occasional sales of a few jars to friends count as a business is a judgement for your council, so ask before your first market. Our guide to harvesting honey covers extraction and storage standards.

Legal duties at a glance

Duty	England and Wales	Scotland	Northern Ireland
Register apiaries	Voluntary (BeeBase)	Voluntary (BeeBase)	Voluntary (DataBees)
Annual hive count	Voluntary, 1 Nov to 31 Dec	Voluntary, 1 Nov to 31 Dec	Ask DAERA
Report varroa presence	Compulsory since 21 April 2021	Compulsory since 21 April 2021	Not covered by the 2021 GB orders
Notify AFB, EFB, small hive beetle, Tropilaelaps	Compulsory, to the NBU	Compulsory, to the bee inspector	Compulsory, to DAERA
Obey a standstill notice	Compulsory	Compulsory	Compulsory
Medicine records	5 years	5 years	5 years
Imports from the EU	Queens with up to 20 attendants only	Queens with up to 20 attendants only	Different arrangements; check DAERA
Report yellow-legged hornet	Asked by government, via app or NNSS	Required by Scottish guidance, via app or NNSS	Check DAERA guidance

The practical routine for a new beekeeper is simple: register on BeeBase or DataBees as soon as your first colony arrives, set your varroa status, start a medicine record the day you buy your first treatment, and put the Hive Count in your diary for November. Join your local association for mentoring and the BBKA insurance, and read the rules of any land you keep bees on. For the next steps, browse our getting started section.

Frequently asked questions

Is it a legal requirement to register my bees in the UK?

No. The National Bee Unit states that registering with BeeBase is not a legal requirement, and the Welsh and Scottish governments both encourage rather than require it. Northern Ireland's DataBees register is also voluntary. Registration is free, and it is the way inspectors find you when foulbrood is confirmed nearby. Some allotment landlords do make it a condition of keeping hives on their plots.

How much does it cost to register on BeeBase?

Nothing. BeeBase registration is free, and so is a visit from a qualified bee inspector, whether it is a routine apiary visit or a response to a disease you have reported. In Northern Ireland, DAERA also charges no fee for registration on DataBees or for statutory control inspections. Costs only appear for things such as export health certificates, where an Official Veterinarian has to sign.

Do I have to report varroa if every beekeeper has it?

Yes, in England, Wales and Scotland. Since 21 April 2021, anyone who knows varroa is present in a hive they own or look after must notify the authorities. In practice you do this once, by setting your apiary status on BeeBase or by filling in the NBU's form if you are not registered. You only report again if your apiary becomes varroa-free.

When is the BeeBase Hive Count?

The Hive Count runs every year from 1 November to 31 December. It records the number of colonies you held on 1 November, and you update it by logging in to BeeBase through the Hive Count link, which only works during that window. If you have lost all your colonies, the NBU still asks you to log in and record zero.

What happens if a bee inspector finds foulbrood in my hives?

The inspector can serve a standstill notice, and you must then not move colonies, combs or equipment until it is lifted. American foulbrood colonies are destroyed. European foulbrood may be treated, often by shook swarm, or the colonies destroyed, depending on severity. Registered beekeepers with apiaries within 3 km receive an email alert asking them to check their own colonies.

Can I buy package bees from Europe?

Not into Great Britain. Only queen bees with up to 20 attendants, and bumble bees, may be imported from the EU. Packages, nucleus colonies and full colonies cannot. Each consignment needs a health certificate and an IPAFFS notification, and the original queen cages and attendants must be sent for examination within 5 days.

How long do I need to keep varroa treatment records?

For at least 5 years after the medicine is given to the bees, and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate says this applies even if you no longer have the colonies. Record what you bought, from whom and when, then the date, hives, quantity used, treatment length, withdrawal period and who applied it. Failing to keep these records is an offence under the Veterinary Medicines Regulations.

Do I need permission to keep bees in my garden?

There is no national licence to keep bees in the UK, and BeeBase registration is optional. Your tenancy agreement, lease, title deeds or allotment rules may still restrict hives, so check them first. Allotment rules often ask for BBKA membership, public liability insurance and a limit of two or three hives per plot. Good siting and a word with neighbours avoid most disputes.

Sources

Legal responsibility of beekeepers, APHA National Bee Unit (BeeBase)
2026 Guidance for importers of honey bees, APHA National Bee Unit (BeeBase)
Hive Count, APHA National Bee Unit (BeeBase)
BeeBase: the National Bee Unit's registration scheme, British Beekeepers Association
Imports and exports, APHA National Bee Unit (BeeBase)
Why sign up to BeeBase? (BBKA News, July 2021), APHA National Bee Unit
The Bee Diseases and Pests Control (England) (Amendment) Order 2021 (SI 2021/420), legislation.gov.uk
Honey bee health: guidance, Legislation, Scottish Government
Honey bee health: guidance, Inspections, Scottish Government
Healthy honey bees, Welsh Government
The Bee Diseases and Pests Control Order (Northern Ireland) 2007, legislation.gov.uk
Beekeepers voluntary registration on DataBees, Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA)
Bee medicines availability in the UK, Veterinary Medicines Directorate
Fact sheet 28: Veterinary Medicine Administration Record, APHA National Bee Unit
Yellow-legged hornet: how to spot and report the pest, Scottish Government
Labelling of honey (trading standards advice, England and Wales), London Borough of Bromley Trading Standards
How to register your food business, East Suffolk Council
Insurance for members, British Beekeepers Association
Explanatory memorandum on Directive (EU) 2024/1438 (honey origin labelling in Northern Ireland), Northern Ireland Assembly, Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee
Rules for beekeeping on allotments 2019 to 2020, Croydon Council