Facebook and other large Silicon Valley companies will face more scrutiny and sanctions in the European Union.

Like Google, Twitter and Apple, Facebook is headquartered in the European Union in Ireland and is overseen by the Irish Data Protection Regulator, also known as the GDPR.

An EU court has ruled that a Belgian data regulator has no authority over a Belgian data regulator in a case involving the tracking of Belgian users through cookies stored on the company’s social applications.

“Subject to certain conditions, a National Supervisory Authority may exercise jurisdiction to bring any violation of GDPR to the jurisdiction of the Member State, even if it is not the primary supervisory authority,” the court said.

The judges said the terms included regulators who comply with the cooperation and consistency procedures specified in the GDPR, and that violations had taken place in the EU country in question.

Several national vigilantes in the 27-member European Union have long complained about their Irish rival, saying the cases take too long to decide. Ireland has denied allegations that it has to be too careful when dealing with powerful and well-funded tech giants.

Current Irish cases include Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, Apple, Verizon Media, LinkedIn, and digital advertiser QuantCast.