Yes, I think it was way earlier than 2006. In France, every card in 1995 had chip and pin.

I think there were a few years where both chip & pin and signatures were in use, but 2006 was the date that chip and pin was mandatory

http://www.theukcardsassociation.org.uk/news/10yearschipandp...

The UK was relatively late to the party, some large retailers here campaigned against it as they were afraid that going online for authorisations would increase the time it took to serve people. I believe that the offline mode was enough to appease them, even now you occasionally run up against offline-only EMV terminals.