A new recommendation on the cross-border co-operation in the enforcement of laws against spam was adopted by the OECD Council session on 13 April 2006, completing the Anti-spam toolkit promoted by OECD since 2004.

The recommendation admits that there is not single solution for tackling the spam issues and the international cooperation is the key in solving the problem. The OECD document urges countries to ensure that their laws enable enforcement authorities to share information with other countries and promote the establishment of a single national contact point to facilitate international cooperation.

According to OECD recommendation there are four important areas that need to be taken into account by the member countries: establishing a domestic framework, improving the ability to cooperate, improving procedures for co-operation and cooperating with relevant private sector entities. Also the education and awareness on the risks of spam and how to deal with it should be an important factor to take into consideration.

The OECD Recommendation on Cross-Border Co-operation in the Enforcement of Laws against Spam has been included in the updated version of the OECD Anti-Spam toolkit that gives policy makers a comprehensive package of concrete regulatory approaches, technical solutions, and industry initiatives to fight spam.

The recent top of twelve spam relaying countries, over the first quarter of 2006, released by Sophos, presents six European countries as part of this top: France, Poland, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom and Netherlands. The top also shows that Europe is in danger of overtaking North America as the second worst spam-relaying part of the world.

OECD urges governments and industry to do more to tackle spam (19.04.2006)
http://www.oecd.org/document/62/0,2340,en_2649_34487_36488702_1_1_1_1,...

OECD Recommendation on Cross-Border Co-operation in the Enforcement of Laws against Spam (19.04.2006)
http://www.oecd-antispam.org/article.php3?id_article=238

Sophos report reveals latest 'dirty dozen' spam relaying countries (20.04.2006)
http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2006/04/dirtydozapr06....

EDRI-gram: ITU wants codes of conduct for tackling global spam (15.03.2006)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.5/ituspam

OECD Anti-Spam Toolkit
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/63/28/36494147.pdf