Start of operations
Article 66
1. The Commission shall decide the date from which the EES is to start operations, after the following conditions are met: (a) the measures referred to in Article 36 and Article 50(4) and (5) have been adopted; (b) eu-LISA has declared the successful completion of a comprehensive test of the EES, which is to be conducted by eu-LISA in cooperation with the Member States; (c) the Member States have validated the technical and legal arrangements to collect and transmit the data referred to in Articles 16 to 20 to the EES and have notified them to the Commission; (d) the Member States have notified the Commission as referred to in Article 65(1), (2) and (3). 2. The EES shall be operated by: (a) the Member States which apply the Schengen acquis in full; and (b) the Member States which do not yet apply the Schengen acquis in full but for which all the following conditions are met: (i) the verification in accordance with applicable Schengen evaluation procedures has been successfully completed; (ii) the provisions of the Schengen acquis relating to the SIS have been put into effect in accordance with the relevant Act of Accession; and (iii) the provisions of the Schengen acquis relating to the VIS which are necessary for the operation of the EES as defined in this Regulation have been put into effect in accordance with the relevant Act of Accession. 3. A Member State which is not covered by paragraph 2 shall be connected to the EES as soon as the conditions referred to in points (b), (c) and (d) of paragraph 1 and point (b) of paragraph 2 are met. The Commission shall decide the date from which the EES is to start its operations in those Member States. 4. The Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council of the results of the test carried out pursuant to point (b) of paragraph 1. 5. The Commission decision referred to in paragraphs 1 and 3 shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union . 6. The Member States and Europol shall start using the EES from the date determined by the Commission in accordance with paragraph 1 or, where applicable, with paragraph 3.