Beekeeping support in Madeira: new rules for apiaries and hives

The Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and Fisheries published Ordinance No. 620/2026 in the Official Journal of 3 November, which changes the rules for access to beekeeping support in the Autonomous Region of Madeira. In practical terms, it requires that the hives in the same apiary be no more than 50 linear metres from one another, and that each supported operation include at least three hives.

What was decided#

The ordinance is the third amendment to Ordinance No. 162/2025, of 6 March, which had already been amended by Ordinances No. 609/2025, of 5 November, and No. 233/2026, of 9 June. Ordinance No. 162/2025 sets out the implementing regime for Intervention F.3.11 - Support for Beekeeping, included in the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy for Portugal (PEPAC Portugal), which is the national plan through which European agricultural funds are applied in Portugal.

According to the text, the amendment serves to adapt the regional regime to the changes made to PEPAC Portugal in its first amendment and in the third non-strategic amendment (NOA), which altered the eligibility criteria for operations. The ordinance notes that the change at national level is already planned, so the Madeira regime needed to be adjusted to ensure compliance.

What changes for beekeepers#

The ordinance makes three concrete changes:

• New definition of apiary: an apiary is the set of hives, in appropriate production conditions, including the site where they are placed and the related infrastructure, belonging to the same beekeeper, in which the hives are no more than 50 linear metres apart from the first to the last. The measure follows the provisions of paragraph d) of Article 3 of Regional Legislative Decree No. 16/2020/M, of 15 December.
• Minimum of five hives: each operation must include at least 5 hives, in accordance with the new wording of paragraph a) of Article 9.
• Removal of a repeated condition: paragraph c) of Article 9 is repealed. This paragraph required the beneficiary to hold a beekeeping holding duly registered under Regional Legislative Decree No. 16/2020/M. That requirement already appeared in Article 8, so the ordinance removes it to avoid duplication and to ensure a coherent application of the eligibility conditions.

Entry into force and effects over time#

The ordinance enters into force on the day after its publication. As for the amendment to paragraph a) of Article 9, which sets the minimum of five hives per operation, the diploma establishes that it takes effect from 20 March 2026, that is, retroactively. The text does not specify an effective date for the remaining amendments, so for those points the date of entry into force applies. The ordinance also does not detail how applications already submitted will be handled.

Legal framework#

An ordinance is a government instrument, in this case of the Regional Government of Madeira, that regulates the application of a law or decree. Ordinance No. 620/2026 was signed by the Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Fisheries, Nuno Dinarte de Gouveia Maciel, on 2 November 2026, and is based on several decree-laws, regional legislative decrees and regulations cited in its preamble, as well as on the Political-Administrative Statute of the Autonomous Region of Madeira.