Ecommerce minister Mike O'Brien has called for greater co-operation between European and Asian governments in the battle to combat spam.

Speaking at the annual ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) ecommerce conference in London this week, O'Brien called for global standards to stamp out threats such as spam that could jeopardise ecommerce adoption.

He warned that cross-border co-operation between Europe and governments in Asian countries such as China, Malaysia and the Philippines is essential if criminals spreading viruses that use home and business PCs to spread spam are to be stopped.

'At this time of unprecedented technological change, ecommerce presents tremendous opportunities,' said O'Brien.

'But we will only maximise these if we can work together to establish global standards. We need therefore to deepen dialogue between Europe and Asia and develop great co-operation.'

Jean-Jacques Sahel, assistant director at the Department of Trade & Industry's international communications branch, told Computing that junk mail will only be reduced if countries work together on a global level to fight organised spam outfits that move from country to country to avoid national prosecutions.

'We have been saying to Europe for a few years now that there is no point to having legislation unless there is cross-law working throughout Europe and other parts of the world,' he said.

Richard Cox, of anti-spam organisation Spamhaus, says the current international enforcement measures are insufficient, and accuses the government of creating a legal framework that criminals could easily flout.

'They don't pay attention to the Information Commissioner and won't unless tougher measures are taken,' he said. 'The only way to stop it is by fining spammers or putting them in prison.'

Jamie Cowper, senior technologist at email and security appliance firm Mirapoint, said the European Union needed to agree common legislation with Asian and US states to combat spam.

'We need some form of international standard on what ISPs can and cannot host,' he said.

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