New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with 10 other international enforcement agencies to promote cooperation in enforcing New Zealand and international laws against unsolicited electronic communications.
The agencies have committed to sharing information and intelligence, where permitted by the laws of its jurisdiction, regarding unsolicited communications.
"Spam continues to be an increasing challenge for regulators worldwide. Electronic messages of this type are sent without any respect to borders," says Internal Affairs General Manager of Regulatory Services, Raj Krishnan.
"Sharing intelligence through collaboration and close working relationships with other agencies across the globe is extremely important in tackling this problem."
The 11 agencies are members of the London Action Plan, a network of international spam and unsolicited communications enforcement agencies. The Plan was created in 2004 and Internal Affairs has been a member since 2007, after the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 came into force.
The other agencies which have signed the MOU are:
- The Australian Communications and Media Authority;
- The Canadian Radio-television and Communications Commission;
- The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada;
- The Korea Internet & Security Agency;
- The Netherlands' Authority for Consumers & Markets;
- The South Africa National Consumer Commission;
- The United States' Federal Trade Commission;
- The United States' Federal Communications Commission;
- The United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office;
- The United Kingdom's National Trading Standards Intelligence Team.