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Spam - an increasing global nuisance:

 “Spam” is the nickname for what we describe as any unsolicited marketing e-mail sent without the consent of the addressee and without any attempt at targeting on recipients who are likely to be interested in its contents.  Spam clogs up the e-mail inboxes of individual and corporate account subscribers, leading to annoyance, wasted time and resources and bulk volume handling problems for Internet Service Providers.  In addition to this, pornographic or ‘scam’ spam can be highly offensive to consumers, and levels of these types of spam are rising.

By July 2004, spam was estimated to account for more than 65% of all global e-mail traffic, an increase of 23% since February 2003. (Brightmail - filter Software Company).

JOINT STATEMENT OF COOPERATION IN COMMERCIAL EMAIL POLICY BETWEEN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND JAPAN

Recognising that the convenience and efficiency of electronic mail are threatened by the extremely rapid growth in the volume of unsolicited commercial email, or "spam", which often contains deceptive and harmful content or material that many recipients may consider offensive in nature;

Recognising the challenges posed by the proliferation of unsolicited commercial email in each country, and desiring to improve the effectiveness of the enforcement of certain provisions of the Commercial Email Laws of their respective countries while also recognising the importance of freedom of expression;

Recognising that the Commercial Email Laws and the methods of developing and enforcing such laws differ substantially among the countries; 

1.            Objective and Scope of assistance

The UK and Japan recognise that it is in their common interests to cooperate in efforts to tackle spam, in particular on "mobile spam", and to keep each other informed of developments in their respective countries having a bearing on this Statement .

In furtherance of this common interest, the signatories intend to use best efforts to exchange and provide appropriate information in relation to: consumer and business education; investigations and research in relevant areas; speeches; research papers; journal articles; compliance education programs; self regulatory and technical enforcement solutions; amendments to relevant legislation; and staffing and resource issues, including the possibility of staff exchanges and visits with governments.

The cooperative activities carried out under this Joint Statement will be subject to the availability of funds and resources of each side.

2.            Definitions                 

For the purposes of this Statement,

- "Commercial Email Laws" in the UK means (a) the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, the Data Protection Act 1998, and the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002; and (b) any other laws enforced by the Office of Fair Trading that would prohibit unfair or deceptive acts or practices in connection with commercial electronic communications, as listed in Annex A to this Statement;

- "Commercial Email Laws" in Japan are the Law on Regulation of Transmission of Specified Electronic Mail and the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions;

- "Governments" means the Department of Trade and Industry in UK, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan.

3.            Support for technical enforcement and public-private partnerships

Governments commit to examining technical solutions like blocking and filtering products in co-operation with the private sector, as well as other industry-government interfaces such as "clearing houses" and codes of conduct, in particular on "mobile spam", and to promoting their use where appropriate.  Exchanges and joint work between policy-makers and industry experts in both countries will be encouraged.

4.         Future policy development

Governments commit to sharing information about the development of any future anti-spam legislation, changes to current regimes including self-regulatory and other voluntary measures, and other initiatives to tackle spam.

5.         Wider international outreach

Governments commit to promoting further international dialogue on spam, both bilaterally and multilaterally, like the London Action Plan, and to co-operating in international fora, in particular OECD, ITU, APEC, and ASEM.

The signatories also intend to use best efforts to promote the wide attendance of government agencies around the world, meetings on spam enforcement issues, and to encourage appropriate subsequent meetings of this nature, and to encourage multi-lateral enforcement cooperation among these agencies with regard to unsolicited commercial email. 

6.            Duration of Cooperation

This Joint Statement becomes effective on the date of signing. 

7.         Legal Effect

This Statement is not intended to create binding obligations under international law or under the domestic laws of the UK or Japan. Tokyo, 13 September, 2006.

The DTI, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Information Commissioner (ICO) announced on Friday 2 July 2004 that they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States, the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for mutual assistance in the enforcement of spam laws.

A full press release can be found on the GNN News site.
 

Information is also available on the following websites:

FTC.

Australian Communications Authority

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

Asian and European countries agree to work together to defeat spam criminals at the 2005 ASEM London conference.

 ‘Spam’ – unsolicited email – is no longer just an annoyance to internet users and a threat to business. It is also increasingly a vehicle for transnational crime and other illegal activities on a global scale.

In London this week, experts from Asia and Europe shared cutting-edge ideas and experience in order to try and arrive at a collaborative approach to defeat the ‘spammers’. 

 Today (Wednesday 23 February) Government participants at the conference adopted an ASEM Joint Statement on International Anti-Spam cooperation.

THE PROBLEMS:

The participants recognised:

• that the convenience and efficiency of electronic mail and the Internet  are seriously threatened by the extremely rapid growth in the volume of spam;
• the urgent need to address international spam enforcement cooperation and spam-related problems, such as online fraud and deception, so-called ‘zombie’ computers, phishing, and dissemination of viruses;
• the need to acknowledge the importance of freedom of expression;
• that governments alone cannot effectively tackle internet issues, and therefore global cooperation and public-private partnerships are essential;
• that the relevant laws and enforcemeny mechanisms need to be supported through awareness raising, industry self-regulation, technical solutions and partnerships between governments and the internet community; 
• that there is a need to ensure that appropriate local, regional and/or national enforcement authorities have a high degree of coordination and understanding of the problems created by unsolicited commercial communications and of the available remedies;
• the need for all to take appropriate security measures to protect their networks and personal computers;

 THE SOLUTIONS:

 In the statement, the participants:

• agreed to engage in regular discussions and actions through their policy and enforcement officials with the aim of combating spam;
• agreed that anti-spam efforts should not only include legislation and enforcement, but also awareness raising, industry self-regulation, technical solutions and partnerships between governments and the internet community;
• encouraged communication and coordination among the different international bodies, public and private, who are developing cross-border policy, regulatory, technical, and other tools to combat spam;
• encouraged in particular all countries to set up appropriate structures to fight spam nationally, as a first step towards international cooperation;
• encouraged dialogue between public authorities and appropriate private sector representatives to promote ways in which the private sector can support governments and enforcement agencies in bringing spam cases and pursue their own initiatives to fight spam;
• reaffirmed their aim to work together to advance international cooperation in the fight against spam in relevant international fora such as ASEM.

The ASEM representatives also confirmed that a priority for ASEM countries would be to coordinate anti-spam efforts at domestic level, and at the international level between ASEM and the other international organizations dealing with spam, such as the EC and the OECD Spam Task Force.

Full Press Release in MS Word

Find out more on SPAM and the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58/EC).

Market Liberalisation in the Telecommunications Sector

The telecommunication sector is important for the development of the ICT sector as a whole, and as one of its crucial backbones, it contributes to the development of the world economy. Liberalisation in the sector has the potential to facilitate a step change in the ICT infrastructure of developing as well as developed countries, and therefore enhance their economic and social well-being altogether.

A carefully planned market opening, conducted in an open and transparent manner, allows market predictability - this is what attracts potential investors to the sector. Liberalisation can also be used indirectly to achieve objectives of universal access to services. Private investment and competition in the telecoms sector usually lead to increased supply of infrastructure and services. But strong and innovative approaches to sector reform can also ensure that marginalized groups or regions are not forgotten, without automatically deterring investors.

A comprehensive overview of Market Liberalisation in the Telecommunications sector with case studies is available.

Government Policy and the Future of eCommunications

Under our page Government Policy and the Future of eCommunications we set the goal to see the widest possible access to a choice of different and high-quality communications services. We can all gain something from these new services, we want every section of our society to have the benefits of these services, and use them to the full.

 Markets in Transition

In Markets in Transition we examine the effects of digitisation in all sectors and if the explosive growth of the Internet has had the greatest impact on the market. The opportunities to compete in these new and challenging markets have been greatly influenced by the UK's policy of creating a stable regulatory environment that supports and underpins competition in both the network and service sectors.

 eCommunications Regulation

eCommunications Regulation shows the Government's intention is to ensure that, as far as possible, the law relating to e-business is neutral in its application, providing the same legal environment on-line as it does off-line. Included in this page is The Electronic Communications Act (2000), (the purpose of the Act is to help build confidence in electronic communications). Other regulatory issues are being given their own pages on this website.

The other regulatory subjects include;

The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, The Regulations implement the main requirements of the E-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC) into UK law - aimed at encouraging greater use of e-commerce. The Regulations may apply to businesses advertising / selling goods and services online, transmitting or storing electronic content or those providing access to a communication network.

The Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000,Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, a general principle that communications should only be intercepted with the prior consent of both parties was established. 

The Lawful Business Practice Regulations offer an exemption to this general principal for businesses wishing to intercept communications on their own systems, so long as the reason for the interception is one of those reasons set out in the Regulations.

The Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58/EC), the Directive updates the existing EU Telecoms Data Protection Directive (97/66/EC).  Enabling location-based services, new requirements for publicly available directories, the extension of controls on unsolicited marketing by email and SMS, and the use of cookies on websites.  A public consultation is now running on how to implement the Directive in the UK, closing in June 2003. As an associated regulatory subject The Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations 1999 the Regulations implement the main requirements of the Telecoms Data Protection Directive (97/66/EC) into UK law.