News Release
Erkki Liikanen
No. 12/04
February 3, 2004
WAR ON SPAM:
EU CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Erkki Liikanen, EU Commissioner for
Enterprise and
Information Society has called for global cooperation against “spam”
at a two-day OECD workshop hosted by the European Commission in Brussels. Building
on efforts by many countries to combat “spam,” he said the OECD should rapidly
agree a five-point framework to promote effective legislation against spam, cooperation
between enforcement agencies, self-regulation by industry, technical solutions
and greater consumer awareness. Commissioner Liikanen said: "Spam is a
global problem that requires global action. If we want to combat spam effectively,
efforts made in the European Union and other regions of the world must be echoed
by similar efforts at the international level, not only by governments but also
businesses and consumers."
Unsolicited commercial communications by e-mail, otherwise known as “spam,”
have reached worrying proportions. Spam accounts for more than 50% of EU e-mail
traffic, 80% of which is in English and 80% of which claims to originate in North
America according to December 2003 figures(1).
Global estimates are even more worrying. Spam is a problem for many reasons: invasion
of privacy, deception of consumers and potential harm to minors, extra costs for
businesses, lost productivity, etc. More generally, it undermines consumer confidence,
which is a prerequisite for the success of e-commerce and, indeed, for the Information
Society.
The EU
banned spam in
2002 and gave member states until the end of October 2003 to adapt national
laws accordingly. Complementary actions were recently introduced to make the “ban
on spam” as effective as possible. However, international cooperation is a key
component of this policy, since most spam comes from outside the country where
it is received. At the UN level, the World Summit on the Information Society recently
recognised that spam should be dealt with at appropriate national and international
levels (Geneva, 10-12 December 2003).
Background information on the OECD workshop on spam, as well as the Commission
Communication on unsolicited commercial communication or “spam” is available
via:
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/ecomm/highlights/
current_spotlights/spam/index_en.htm
(1) Source: Brightmail, 2004.
