Article 7 — Suspension of the EES

1. During the progressive start of operations of the EES, Member States may fully or partially suspend the operations of the EES at certain border crossing points in the case of failure of the EES Central System, of national systems or of communication infrastructure that significantly disrupts the operations of the EES, or in exceptional circumstances that lead to traffic of such intensity that the waiting time at a border crossing point becomes excessive. In the case of partial suspension, Member States shall collect the data referred to in Articles 16 to 20 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226, with the exception of biometric data. In the case of full suspension, Member States shall completely suspend the operations of the EES and shall not collect any of the data referred to in Articles 16 to 20 of that Regulation. In both cases, Member States shall promptly, and in any event no later than 6 hours from the start of the suspension of the operations of the EES, notify the Commission and eu-LISA of the reason for the partial or full suspension of the EES and the expected or actual duration of that suspension. If relevant given the local circumstances of the border crossing points, Member States shall inform the operators of infrastructure hosting the border crossing points and carriers of the suspension. Once the situation that led to the suspension has come to an end, Member States shall promptly notify the Commission and eu-LISA. In cases where they had informed the operators of infrastructure hosting the border crossings points and carriers of the suspension, Member States shall inform them that the situation that led to the suspension has come to an end. 2. In the event of failure of the EES Central System, eu-LISA shall promptly notify the Commission and the Member States of the reason for such failure and of its expected duration. eu-LISA shall also promptly notify the Commission and the Member States when the failure is resolved. All Member States shall promptly confirm the restarting of operations of the EES to the Commission and eu-LISA. 3. During a period of 90 days after the end of the progressive start of operations of the EES, Member States may partially suspend the operations of the EES as referred to in paragraph 1, second subparagraph, at a certain border crossing point for a maximum of 6 hours in exceptional circumstances that lead to traffic of such intensity that the waiting time at a border crossing point becomes excessive. During such a partial suspension, Member States shall be exempt from their obligation set out in Article 21(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 as regards the registration of biometric data. Member States shall promptly, and in any event no later than 6 hours from the start of the partial suspension, notify the Commission and eu-LISA of the reason for the suspension and of its expected or actual duration. 4. If less than 80 % of the individual files registered in the EES during the progressive start of operations of the EES contain biometric data, the period of 90 days referred to in paragraph 3 shall be automatically extended by 60 days. 5. By the 10th day after the end of the progressive start of operations of the EES, eu-LISA shall provide the Commission with statistics allowing the Commission to verify whether the percentage referred to in paragraph 4 has been reached. By the 30th day after the end of the progressive start of operations of the EES, the Commission shall inform the Member States of the outcome of its verification.