WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States formally joined the 46-nation Council of Europe in waging war on cyber crime and urged other governments to do the same.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington had submitted its ratification of the Convention on Cybercrime to the Strasbourg, France-headquartered council and that the agreement would take effect on January 1, 2007.

The convention adopted by the Council of Europe in 2001 is the only legally binding multilateral accord specifically addressing computer-related crime, McCormack said in a statement.

It deals with computer hacking and Internet fraud as well as crimes involving electronic evidence, child sexual exploitation, organized crime and terrorism.