1. Member States shall designate the authorities which are entitled to consult the EES data in order to prevent, detect and investigate terrorist offences or other serious criminal offences.
2. Each Member State shall keep a list of the designated authorities. Each Member State shall notify eu-LISA and the Commission of its designated authorities and may at any time amend or replace its notification.
3. Each Member State shall designate a central access point which shall have access to the EES. The central access point shall verify that the conditions to request access to the EES laid down in Article 32 are fulfilled.
The designated authority and the central access point may be part of the same organisation if permitted under national law, but the central access point shall act fully independently of the designated authorities when performing its tasks under this Regulation. The central access point shall be separate from the designated authorities and shall not receive instructions from them as regards the outcome of the verification which it shall carry out independently.
Member States may designate more than one central access point to reflect their organisational and administrative structures in the fulfilment of their constitutional or legal requirements.
4. Member States shall notify eu-LISA and the Commission of their central access points and may at any time amend or replace their notifications.
5. At national level, each Member State shall keep a list of the operating units within the designated authorities that are authorised to request access to EES data through the central access points.
6. Only duly empowered staff of the central access points shall be authorised to access the EES in accordance with Articles 31 and 32.