Last week, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it signed a cooperation agreement with Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru to combat fraud both inside and outside the United States.  The Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding promotes cooperation across these countries, including information-sharing and and cooperation on cross-border enforcement.  

In announcing the agreement, Maria Coppola, Director of the FTC's Office of International Affairs, said, “This multilateral MOU with our partners from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru sends a message of our shared commitment to protect consumers from cross-border fraud, deception, and other illegal practices.”

The agreement encourages each of the countries to:  

• Share complaints submitted by consumers;
• Provide investigative assistance;
• Coordinate enforcement actions;
• Provide other case assistance;
• Participate in econsumer.gov; and
• Cooperate on non-investigatory matters.

The agreement also provides mechanism for other countries to join the agreement in the future.