WASHINGTON, D.C. –

The Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau and the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission recently finalized a formal agreement, committing the two agencies to work together to combat what they deem to be unlawful robocalls.

Officials explained the Memorandum of Understanding represents the FCC’s commitment to working cooperatively with international regulators to combat robocalls and caller ID spoofing, which has been a tool some skip-tracers use that certain regulators have deemed to be abusive.

“Robocall scams are as much of a menace to American consumers as they are to Canadians,” Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said. “We know that a lot of these calls originate from outside the United States. It is imperative that we work with our counterparts around the globe to quickly identify the origin of these calls and to shut them down at their source.”

Under the agreement, the two agencies agree to cooperate on enforcement matters related to unlawful robocalls and caller ID spoofing.  These agencies have also committed to exchange information about investigations and complaints, share knowledge and expertise, provide information about legal theories and economic analysis, keep each other abreast of significant legal developments, and provide other appropriate assistance.

The regulators added this agreement follows on the heels of a similar memorandum of understanding that the Enforcement Bureau signed last June with members of the Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network (formerly the London Action Plan). This coalition coordinates and promotes international cooperation and activities targeting unlawful communications like robocall and robotext scams.

“Members, like the FCC, share intelligence, identify common threats, learn from each other’s best practices, and assist each other with investigations where permissible,” officials said.

The new Memorandum of Understanding is available here.