Greece Plans e-Honey Platform With Fines of Up to €10,000
Greece plans to introduce the e-honey platform to track honey and other apiculture products through production, trade and distribution. The proposed system will connect public registries and commercial records, with fines from €200 to €10,000 for reporting violations.
Digital controls across the honey chain
Greece’s Ministry of Rural Development and Food plans to establish a digital traceability platform covering the production, trade and distribution of honey and other apiculture products. The system, formally called the “Honey and Apiculture Products Balance” and known as “e-honey,” is included in a multi-part bill that was under public consultation, according to CretaOne.
The platform is intended to monitor products made in Greece, produced in other European Union member states and brought into the country, or imported from third countries. It will also cover honey and other apiculture products circulating within Greek territory. The measure therefore extends beyond domestic beekeepers to businesses receiving, trading or distributing goods of different origins.
Registries, invoices and quantity declarations
E-honey will be connected to the National Electronic Beekeeping Registry and may exchange information with other government systems and public registries. Greece’s Independent Authority for Public Revenue will provide electronic invoice data and other digital commercial documents considered necessary for supervising the production, trade and distribution chain.
The Ministry of Development’s Directorate of Commercial Entrepreneurship will be responsible for establishing mandatory declarations of the quantities of honey and other apiculture products traded and moved through the market. Linking quantity reports, beekeeper records and transaction documents could give inspection authorities a common data trail for comparing declared production with commercial movements.
Penalties for missing or inaccurate data
Active beekeepers and businesses that receive or market honey will have to register and update the required information within the prescribed deadlines. Failure to report on time, or the submission of false, incomplete or misleading information, may result in an administrative fine ranging from €200 to €10,000. The amount will depend on factors including the number of hives held, whether the offender is a professional farmer, a non-professional farmer or a legal entity, and whether the omission or incorrect entry was made knowingly.
A repeat violation within two years will double the fine. The offender will also lose rights to participate in national or EU agricultural support measures, including measures specifically covering beekeeping, as well as insurance and compensation from the Hellenic Agricultural Insurance Organisation. Penalties may be cumulative when the same party commits violations both as an active beekeeper-producer and as a trader or distributor.
Responsibilities divided among public authorities
The ministry’s Directorate of Animal Husbandry Systems, acting through the department responsible for beekeeping, will manage, coordinate, monitor and supervise e-honey. It will also propose related measures, cooperate with other authorities and inform beekeepers and traders about the platform.
The ministry’s Electronic Governance Directorate will develop and technically support the system, monitor its correct operation, manage upgrades and provide interoperability access to inspection bodies. The proposed framework gives different agencies responsibility for operational supervision, technology, commercial declarations and transaction data, while placing reporting duties on both producers and market intermediaries.
