For the purpose of this article, the term:

(1) "Abandoned apiary" means any apiary in which twenty-five percent or more of the colonies are dead or diseased, or the death or disarray of the colonies exposes them to robbing, or diseased or potentially diseased abandoned bee equipment which may jeopardize the welfare of neighboring colonies.

(2) "Apiary" means any place where one or more colonies or nuclei of bees are kept or where bee equipment is stored.

(3) "Appliances" means any apparatus, tool, machine or other device, used in the handling and manipulating of bees, honey, wax and hives. It also means any container of honey and wax that may be used in any apiary or in transporting bees and their products and apiary supplies.

(4) "Bees" means any stage of the common hive or honey bee (Apis mellifera), or other species of the genus Apis.

(5) "Bee equipment" means hives, supers, frames, veils, gloves or any other appliances.

(6) "Bee products" means honey, bees wax, pollen, propolis and royal jelly.

(7) "Colony" means the hive and includes bees, comb, honey and bee equipment.

(8) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the Department of Agriculture of the State of West Virginia or a duly authorized employee.

(9) "Control agents or control mechanisms" means any method of chemical or mechanical control to suppress or eradicate an apiary disease, pest, or parasitic infestation in an apiary or the colonies contained therein.

(10) "Department" means the Department of Agriculture of the State of West Virginia.

(11) "Hive" means a frame hive, box hive, box, barrel, log, gum, skep or any other receptacle or container, natural or artificial, or any part thereof, which may be used or employed as a domicile for bees.

(12) "Honey bee pest" means American foulbrood (Bacillus larvae), European foulbrood (Melissococcus pluton), Varroa mite (Varroa destructor), honey bee tracheal mite (Acarapis woodi), or any other virus or infectious or parasitic organism determined by the commissioner to be transmissible to other bee colonies and that represents a threat to beekeeping in West Virginia.

(13) "Nuclei" means the removal of a split portion or division of any colony of honey bees for the express purpose of creating a numerical increase in colonies for honey production, pollination service or monetary gain through sale of honey bees.

(14) "Packaged bees" means bees shipped in combless packages accompanied by a valid certificate of health from an authorized state or federal agency verifying the absence or presence of any infectious or communicable diseases or parasitic infestations, and further providing that no honey has been used for food while in transit or that any honey used as food in transit was properly sterilized.

(15) "Person" means corporations, partnerships, associations, societies, individuals or group of individuals or any employee, servant or agent acting for or employed by any person.

(16) "Premises" means any parcel of real estate and structures in which bee equipment, bees, bee products and bee appliances are or may be utilized for storage purposes.

(17) "Quarantine" means a declaration by the commissioner which specifies a period of enforced isolation to contain and prevent the spread of honey bee pests.

(18) "Sterilized or sterilization" means to treat and neutralize honey bee pests by means of steam autoclave, pit incineration, or by any other acceptable method which the commissioner determines effective for control of honey bee pests.