Skype is, after all, a company incorporated under Luxembourg law and has no separate branch in Belgium. In the first place, Skype pointed out that the offense did not have any territorial link with the Belgian territory, so that the Belgian judge would not have jurisdiction. In addition, the company claimed that Skype was not an operator of a telecommunication network or provider of a telecommunication service, and at least that there is no question of refusal of cooperation in the judicial investigation. Before the court of appeal, Skype stated again that the Belgian judge would have no jurisdiction. The Criminal Court would ultimately state Skype committed the crime of refusal to grant technical assistance to an investigation and order Skype to pay an effective fine of € 30,000.
Skype only supplied partial information, including email addresses of those concerned and account information, but not the content of communications.Īs a result of the (implicit) refusal to cooperate, the police immediately lodged an official report, after which a prosecution investigation was started by the public prosecutor’s office.
Skype would also not have any data of conversations between Skype users, which are video and chat messages, as well as exchanged files. Skype was contacted several times by the police, but reported that Skype users’ data is held by and owned by Skype located in Luxembourg. In particular, the official warrant claimed that future conversations could be monitored by the investigators. The magistrate then ordered a registration and tapping measure and demanded Skype to cooperate. Authorities established that a certain suspect within the investigation did not communicate by means of a normal telephone line, but only via a so-called Skype account. In 2012, a judicial investigation regarding a criminal organization was conducted in Belgium. However, a discussion remains over Skype’s status as a telecom operator as another Belgian court sought guidance to resolve a lawsuit between the company and the national telecom regulator.
In November 2017, Skype was found guilty of failing to give essential information and provide a wiretap on Skype calls as the company was considered as a provider. Article by Catherine Gysels, DLA Piper BrusselsĪccording to Belgian criminal law, providers of telecommunication services are obliged to cooperate if an investigating judge orders a wiretap measure.
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