As used in this Article:

(1) The term “apiary” means bees, comb, hives, appliances, or colonies, wherever they are kept, located, or found.

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(2) The term “bee(s)” means insects of the superfamily Apoidea; in particular, the honeybees, Apis mellifera (L). It includes all life stages of such insects, their genetic material, and dead remains.

(3) The term “beeyard” means a location or site where bees are located in hives.

(4) The term “Board” means the North Carolina Board of Agriculture.

(5) The term “Brazilian or African bee” means bees of the subspecies Apis mellifera Adansonii and their progeny.

(6) The term “colony” means one hive and its contents, including bees, comb, and appliances.

(7) The term “comb” includes all materials which are normally deposited into hives by bees. It does not include extracted honey or royal jelly, trapped pollen, and processed beeswax.

(8) The term “commercial beekeeper” means a beekeeper who owns or operates 200 or more colonies of bees, or a beekeeper who moves bees across state lines.

(9) The term “Commissioner” means the North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture or his designated agents.

(10) The term “Department” means the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

(11) The term “disease” means any infectious disease, parasite, or pest that detrimentally affects bees.

(12) The term “disorder” means any disease, poisoning, pest, parasite, or predator damage, toxic substance injury, or undesirable trait or genetic strain of the bee that detrimentally affects bees or the bee and honey industry.

(13) The term “exposed” means having been in circumstances where the possibility of infection or damage by a disease or disorder occurred. Bees in an apiary where disease or disorder is present or where there has been an exchange of equipment with a diseased apiary may be considered exposed.

(14) The term “health certificate” means a statement issued by the State Entomologist certifying that bees or regulated articles are apparently free of disease or disorder based on an inspection or freedom from exposure to disease or disorder.

(15) The term “hive” means any receptacle or container, or part of receptacle or container, which is made or prepared for the use of bees, or which is inhabited by bees.

(16) The term “honey” means for the purpose of defining honey as a regulated article in the control of bee diseases or disorders, the natural food product made by the honeybees from the nectar of flowers, the saccharine exudation of plants, honeydew, sugar, corn syrup, or any other material along with any adulterants.

(17) The term “honeybees” means honey-producing insects of the genus Apis.

(18) The term “honeyflow” means the seasonal yielding of nectar by honey plants.

(19) The term “honey plants” means blooming plants from which bees gather nectar or pollen.

(20) The term “infested or infected” means showing symptoms of or having been exposed to the causal agent of a bee disease or disorder to such a degree that there is a possibility of the infected organisms or material transmitting the disease or disorder to other bees.

(21) The term “moveable frame hive” means any hive where the frames can be removed without damaging the comb.

(22) The term “permit” means an authorization to allow movement or other action involving bees or regulated articles.

(23) The term “regulated article” means any bees, bee equipment, comb, beeswax, honey, pollen, causal agents of disease, toxic substances, products of the hive, containers, and any other item regulated under this Article or pursuant regulations.

(24) The term “symptomless carrier” means to possess or bear a disease or disorder in a suppressed state having the potential for spreading the disease or disorder. (1977, c. 238, s. 2; 1997-261, s. 67.)