Alberta Beekeepers Commission Plan Regulation

( Consolidated up to 68/2026 ) ALBERTA REGULATION 91/2022 Marketing of Agricultural Products Act ALBERTA BEEKEEPERS COMMISSION PLAN REGULATION Table of Contents 1 Definitions 2 Beekeeping industry 3 Designation of agricultural product Part 1 General Operation of Plan Division 1 Plan 4 Plan continued 5 Termination of Plan 6 Application of Plan 7 Purposes of Plan Division 2 Operation of Plan by Commission 8 Commission continued 9 Functions of Commission 10 Information 11 Operation of Plan re regulations 12 Financing of Plan 13 Service charges refundable 14 Prohibition re funds under the Act Part 2 Governance of Plan Division 1 Regions and Directors 15 Regions 16 Board of Directors 17 Election of directors Division 2 Controverted Election, Vacancy 18 Controverted election 19 Vacancy Part 3 Review, Transitional and Repeal 20 Review 22 Repeal Definitions 1 In this Regulation, (a) “Act” means the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act ; (b) “annual Commission meeting” means an annual general meeting of the directors and the eligible producers; (c) “bee” means the insect Apis mellifera L ; (d) “bee products” means an agricultural product as defined under section 3, except bees; (e) “bylaws” means the bylaws made by the Commission pursuant to section 26(2.1) of the Act; (f) “colony” means a distinguishable localized population of bees and includes a mating nucleus; (g) “Commission” means the commission known as the Alberta Beekeepers Commission referred to in section 8; (h) “Council” means the Alberta Agricultural Products Marketing Council; (i) “crop year” means a 12‑month period commencing on September 1 and terminating on the following August 31; (j) “director” means a director of the Commission; (k) “eligible producer” means a producer who qualifies as an eligible producer under the bylaws; (l) “hive” means a container for housing colonies of bees, honey and bee products; (m) “hive products” means products from a hive other than honey and includes wax, pollen, royal jelly, propolis and venom; (n) “honey” means the natural sweet substance produced by bees from the nectar of plants or from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which the bees collect, transform by combining with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store and leave in a honey comb to ripen and mature; (o) “honey products” means any product that contains honey; (p) “marketing” (i) means buying, owning, selling, offering for sale, storing, grading, assembling, packing, transporting, advertising and financing, and (ii) includes any other function or activity designated as marketing by the Minister; (q) “mating nucleus” means a small colony of bees primarily used for mating honey bee queens or for keeping bees temporarily; (r) “person” means a person as defined in the Interpretation Act and includes (i) a partnership as defined in the Partnership Act , (ii) any unincorporated organization that is not a partnership referred to in subclause (i), and (iii) any group of individuals who are carrying on an activity for a common purpose and are neither a partnership referred to in subclause (i) nor an unincorporated organization referred to in subclause (ii); (s) “Plan” means the Alberta Beekeepers Commission Plan referred to in section 4; (t) “pollinator bees” means the insect Apis mellifera L that is hired out to pollinate a crop; (u) “producer” means a person who maintains colonies of bees; (v) “region” means a region established in section 15; (w) “regulated product” means colonies of bees; (x) “special Commission meeting” means a special general meeting of the directors and the eligible producers. Beekeeping industry 2 In this Regulation, a reference to the beekeeping industry includes references to the following: (a) honey; (b) honey products; (c) pollinating services; (d) bees, including queen bees, package bees and pollinator bees; (e) colonies of bees; (f) bee products. Designation of agricultural product 3 Bees, honey, beeswax, bee pollen, propolis, royal jelly, bee venom, honey products and bee products are designated as agricultural products for the purposes of the Act. Part 1 General Operation of Plan Division 1 Plan Plan continued 4 The Alberta Beekeepers Commission Plan established under the Alberta Beekeepers Commission Plan Regulation (AR 59/2006) is hereby amended and continued under this Regulation. Termination of Plan 5 The Plan does not terminate at the conclusion of a specific period of time and remains in force unless otherwise terminated pursuant to the Act. Application of Plan 6 (1) The Plan applies (a) to all of Alberta, and (b) to all producers who do one or more of the following: (i) produce or maintain colonies of bees on land located in Alberta; (ii) market the regulated product within Alberta. (2) The Plan does not apply to producers with respect to any regulated product that is produced (a) on land not located in Alberta, or (b) by a producer who maintains fewer than 100 colonies of bees. Purposes of Plan 7 (1) The purposes of the Plan are to do the following: (a) to initiate and carry out projects or programs related to research and development and studies with respect to the beekeeping industry and to the production and handling of honey, including research and studies concerning the development and use of honey, honey products and hive products; (b) to assist, educate and inform producers, dealers and processors in developing and improving the beekeeping industry and methods regarding the production and processing of honey, honey products and hive products; (c) generally to assist in the development and promotion of the beekeeping industry in Alberta; (d) to advise governments on matters concerning the beekeeping industry; (e) to cooperate with the Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta with respect to the maintenance of the quality and standards of the regulated product; (f) to work with any other organization that has similar objectives to those of the Commission; (g) to act as an agent on behalf of producers in respect of matters relating to the Canada Revenue Agency’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development Program as it applies to the beekeeping industry. (2) Under the Plan neither the production nor the marketing of the regulated product is to be controlled or regulated. Division 2 Operation of Plan by Commission Commission continued 8 The Alberta Beekeepers Commission is hereby continued. Functions of Commission 9 The Commission is, subject to the Act, responsible for the operation, regulation, supervision and enforcement of the Plan, the regulations made by the Commission and the bylaws. Information 10 (1) In this section, “beekeeper” means a beekeeper as defined in the Bee Act . (2) The Minister is authorized to disclose the following information to the Commission for use by the Commission in carrying out its functions and duties: (a) information, including personal information as defined in the Protection of Privacy Act , that has been collected by or used by the Minister under the Act and the regulations and that relates to the administration of the Plan, including (i) a list of eligible producers and the region where each eligible producer operates, and (ii) a list of every producer who has 100 or more colonies and is required to pay a service charge, including the assessment, charging and collection of service charges; (b) information, including personal information as defined in the Protection of Privacy Act , that has been collected by or used by the Provincial Apiculturist under the Bee Act , including the full name, address, telephone number and number of colonies owned by a beekeeper who registers with the Provincial Apiculturist under the Bee Act . AR 91/2022 s10;142/2025 Operation of Plan re regulations 11 (1) The Commission is authorized under section 26(1) of the Act to make, with the approval of the Council, regulations (a) requiring any person who produces, markets or processes the regulated product to furnish to the Commission any information or record relating to the production, marketing or processing of the regulated product that the Commission considers necessary; (b) requiring persons other than producers to be licensed under the Plan before they become engaged in the marketing and processing, or either of those functions, of the regulated product; (c) governing the issuance, suspension or cancellation of a licence issued under the Plan; (d) providing for (i) the assessment, charging and collection of service charges from producers from time to time for the purposes of the Plan, and (ii) the taking of legal action to enforce payment of the service charges; (e) respecting the circumstances, if any, under which a service charge may be refunded to a producer; (f) requiring any person who receives the regulated product from a producer (i) to deduct from the money payable to the producer any service charges payable by the producer to the Commission, and (ii) to forward the amount deducted to the Commission; (g) providing for the use of any class of service charges or other money payable to or received by the Commission for the purpose of paying its expenses and administering the Plan, the regulations made by the Commission and the bylaws. (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1)(a), the Commission shall not require any producer who keeps fewer than 100 colonies to furnish to the Commission any information or record relating to the production, marketing or processing of the regulated product. AR 91/2022 s11;179/2022 Financing of Plan 12 In accordance with the regulations, (a) the Plan is to be financed by (i) the charging and collection of service charges from producers, and (ii) any other money payable to or received or accrued by the Commission, and (b) every producer who has 100 or more colonies of bees shall pay a service charge in the amount determined under the regulations. Service charges refundable 13 (1) In accordance with the regulations, (a) the service charge is refundable to a producer on request of the producer, (b) the request for a refund of the service charge must (i) be made in writing on a form established by the Commission, and (ii) contain the following information: (A) the producer’s name; (B) the producer’s mailing address and telephone number; (C) the number of colonies registered under the Bee Act ; (D) any specifics of the refund that are requested by the Commission, (c) requests for refunds in respect of a service charge must be received by the Commission at its office prior to the end of October in the same crop year for which the service charge applies, (d) any request for a refund that is not received by the Commission within the time period specified under clause (c) shall not, subject to clause (e), be considered by the Commission and the producer will not be entitled to a refund in respect of which the request was made, (e) the Commission may, if it is satisfied that extenuating circumstances exist that warrant its doing so, consider an application for a refund that is received after the applicable time period referred to in clause (c), and (f) the Commission must refund the service charge to the producer (i) within 90 days after a request for a refund is received by the Commission, in the case of a request received under clause (c), or (ii) within 90 days after a request for a refund is received, considered and accepted by the Commission, in the case of a request received under clause (e). (2) In the event that within the period of time that makes up a crop year (a) the eligible producers requesting a refund of the service charge comprise more than 35% of existing eligible producers, and (b) those eligible producers requesting a refund under clause (a) account for at least 35% of the service charges collected during the current crop year, the Council may direct that the continued operation of the Plan is subject to approval by a majority of producers at a plebiscite to be held under the direction of the Council pursuant to the Act. (3) The Commission must, within 90 days following the end of a crop year, report to the Council the refunds made under this section for that crop year. Prohibition re funds under the Act 14 The Commission shall not establish a fund under section 34 or 35 of the Act. Part 2 Governance of Plan Division 1 Regions and Directors Regions 15 (1) For the purposes of the Plan and the bylaws, Alberta is divided into 4 regions. (2) The area included in each region is as set out in the bylaws. Board of Directors 16 The Commission shall have a Board of Directors consisting of 9 directors made up as follows: (a) 4 regional directors, being one regional director for each region; (b) 5 directors at large. Election of directors 17 (1) An election of directors is to be conducted (a) at or in conjunction with the annual Commission meeting, or (b) at or in conjunction with a special Commission meeting, where the Council directs under section 18(5)(a) that an election be held by means of a vote of eligible producers in accordance with the procedures set out in the bylaws. (2) An eligible producer may vote only once for each director position open at an election notwithstanding that the eligible producer may manage, operate, own, lease or hold equity in 2 or more operations. Division 2 Controverted Election, Vacancy Controverted election 18 (1) If an eligible producer questions (a) the eligibility of a candidate, (b) the eligibility of a voter, (c) any matter relating to a ballot or the tabulation of ballots, or (d) any other irregularity with respect to the conduct of an election, that eligible producer may, not later than 15 days after the day of the election, apply in writing to the Council to have the election declared invalid and the position declared vacant. (2) If the Council has not received an application under subsection (1) within the 15‑day period referred to in subsection (1), an individual elected at that election is deemed to be duly elected. (3) The Council shall not consider an application under subsection (1) that is not received by the Council within 15 days after the day of the election. (4) On receipt of an application under subsection (1), the Council shall consider the matter and may (a) declare the election to be proper and the position filled if, in the opinion of the Council, there is no basis for the application, (b) declare the election to be proper and the position filled notwithstanding that there is a basis for the application, if, in the opinion of the Council, (i) the basis for the application did not materially affect the result of the election, and (ii) the election was conducted substantially in accordance with the Plan, the bylaws and the Act, or (c) declare the election to be void and the position vacant if, in the opinion of the Council, there is a basis for the application and the basis is sufficient to or did affect the result of the election. (5) If the Council declares an election to be void and the position vacant, the Council may (a) order that, within the time that the Council considers proper, a special Commission meeting be held and an election conducted to fill the vacant position for the unexpired portion of the term, or (b) have the Board of Directors fill the vacant position in accordance with section 19. (6) Notwithstanding that an election is declared void and a position is declared vacant under subsection (4)(c), the bylaws may provide that the term of office of the position is deemed to have commenced on the day that the election that was declared void was held. Vacancy 19 If a vacancy occurs on the Board of Directors, or fewer than the required number of directors have been elected in accordance with section 17, the Board of Directors may, in accordance with the bylaws and with the approval of the Council, appoint from among the eligible producers who are eligible to be elected as a director an individual to fill the vacant position for the unexpired portion of the term. Part 3 Review, Transitional and Repeal Review 20 In compliance with the ongoing regulatory review initiative, this Regulation must be reviewed on or before May 31, 2033. AR 91/2022 s20;68/2026 Transitional 21 Repealed AR 68/2026 s3. Repeal 22 The Alberta Beekeepers Commission Plan Regulation (AR 59/2006) is repealed.