The Government will cooperate with the local industry and international organisations to combat the spam problem, e.g. encouraging the industry to develop a common blacklist for filtering spam e-mails and signing memorandum of understanding with other economies on cooperation in countering spam.

On April 27, 2005, the then Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau joined 11 agencies in the Asia-Pacific region to become the founding signatories of the Seoul-Melbourne Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Co-operation in Countering Spam.

The purpose of the memorandum is to encourage closer cooperation among the signatories in minimising spam originating in or passing through each country/region, and being sent to end-users in the countries/regions.

The signatories will also encourage the exchange of information on technical, educational and policy solutions to the spam problem in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations of each country/region and on the basis of equality, reciprocity and mutual benefit.

The MoU will facilitate the signatories to share knowledge, information and intelligence about known sources of spam, network vulnerabilities, methods of spam propagation, and technical, educational and policy solutions to the spam problem. It will also focus on putting anti-spam solutions and strategies into action.

Under the MoU, cooperation among the signatories in the field of countering spam will focus on the following areas:

• establishment of channels for exchange of information on spam, anti-spam measures and emerging issues;
  
• exchange of delegations and visits; and
  
• encouragement of liaison between industry and Government organisations to promote areas of interest and cooperation.

The 12 founding signatories of the MoU are:

• Australian Communications Authority;
  
• The then Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region;
  
• Internet Society of China;
  
• Korea Information Security Agency;
  
• Philippines Commission on Information and Communications Technology;
  
• Philippines Computer Emergency Response Team;
  
• Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission;
  
• Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan;
  
• Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan;
  
• Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Kingdom of Thailand;
  
• New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development; and
  
• Taiwan Computer Emergency Response Team / Coordination Centre