The Belgian Privacy Commission said the Brussels Appeals Court had dismissed its case on the grounds that the regulator has no jurisdiction over Facebook, which has its European headquarters in Ireland.
Belgiums data protection regulator took Facebook to court a year ago, accusing it of trampling on EU privacy law by tracking people without a Facebook account without their consent. The court ruled in favour of the regulator and ordered Facebook to stop tracking non-Facebook users when they visited a Facebook page or face a EUR 250,000 daily fine.
Facebook appealed the ruling. In the meantime, it said it would comply and stop using the cookie which it places on peoples browsers when they visit a Facebook.com site or click a Facebook Like button on other websites, allowing it to track the online activities of that browser.
The Belgiums regulator said it would look into launching a final appeal with the Court of Cassation, which can throw out previous judgements but not deliver new ones.
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