Brussels, 27/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - In a communication adopted on 15 November, the European Commission calls on all the regulatory authorities and interested parties to fight against junk e-mail or "spam" (unsolicited electronic mail), spy ware and other harmful software. The Commission stresses that despite Community legislation banning spam in Europe, the Union continues to suffer due to illegal online activities carried out inside the EU and in third countries. The communication stresses the fact that although Internet security has constituted a political priority for quite some time, the national authorities must step up their actions to punish illegal online activities. "It is time to turn repeated political concern about spam into concrete actions to fight spam", said Viviane Reding. The Commissioner in charge of the Information Society and the Media stressed that "in line with EU legislation outlawing spam, the Dutch authorities have managed to cut domestic spam by 85%- I'd like to see other countries achieving similar results through more efficient enforcement", she added, going on to state that she would "revisit this issue again next year to see whether additional legislative measures against spam are required". The text of the Commission's communication can be consulted at:
http: //europa.eu.int/information_society/policy/ecomm/info_centre/documentation/communic_reports/index
_en.htm. (ol)