Article 3 Designated authorities and central access points

Member States shall designate the authorities referred to in Article 2(1)(e) which are authorised to access VIS data pursuant to this Decision.

Every Member State shall keep a list of the designated authorities. By 2 December 2008 every Member State shall notify in a declaration to the Commission and the General Secretariat of the Council their designated authorities and may at any time amend or replace its declaration by another declaration.

Every Member State shall designate the central access point(s) through which the access is done. Member States may designate more than one central access point to reflect their organisational and administrative structure in fulfilment of their constitutional or legal requirements. By 2 December 2008 every Member State shall notify in a declaration to the Commission and the General Secretariat of the Council their central access point(s) and may at any time amend or replace its declaration by another declaration.

The Commission shall publish the declarations referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 in the Official Journal of the European Union.

At national level, each Member State shall keep a list of the operating units within the designated authorities that are authorised to access the VIS through the central access point(s).

Only duly empowered staff of the operational units as well as the central access point(s) shall be authorised to access the VIS in accordance with Article 4.