Belgian Court Summons Skype Over Refusal to Hand Over Suspects' Data

By Natalia Drozdiak 

BRUSSELS-- Microsoft Corp.'s Skype subsidiary has been summoned to appear before a Belgian court for declining to hand over data involving two criminal suspects, in a case that could decide whether the online phone-call and messaging service should be treated as a telecom company, a court spokesman said Tuesday.

The case comes as Europe's incumbent telecom operators gripe that online communication services, such as Skype and WhatsApp, are receiving beneficial treatment and aren't taxed or regulated the same way as telecoms but still have access to their networks.

A public prosecutor opened the case into Skype after the company refused to submit wiretap data of two suspects within an organization who were communicating with one another, said a spokesman for the court in Mechelen, a town 20 miles outside of Brussels.

Telecoms and network operators can be punished under Belgian law if they don't assist a criminal investigation when requested to do so, the court said.

"The question will likely focus on whether the legislation [for telecoms and network operators] is applicable to Skype or not," the spokesman said. He wouldn't disclose details about the case against the two suspects.

In the event that the court deems Skype to be either a telecom company or a company that provides communication services, the firm would have to offer up the data and could potentially face fines of up to EUR24,000 ($26,000).

The case will also examine whether Skype, based in Luxembourg, is obliged to cooperate with Belgian justice.

In response, Skype played up the need to protect privacy and its headquarters outside of Belgium's jurisdiction.

"Law enforcement plays an important role in keeping communities safe but the legal process should also protect personal privacy, respect international borders and recognize technological differences," a Skype spokesman said.

The European Union is working to change its current telecom rules as part of a push to create a single digital market, which policy makers hope will help revive the continent's anemic economy.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the bloc's digital chief in charge of the project, Andrus Ansip, said he was looking into the companies' complaints that such services as Skype have fewer obligations than telecom operators do.

"We would like to deal with those issues, but I'm not ready to provide some kind of concrete solutions right now," said Mr. Ansip, a native of Estonia, where Skype originated.

The Skype case is set to be formally heard in Mechelen on June 10.

Write to Natalia Drozdiak at [e-mail]

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