London - U.K. culture secretary Tessa Jowell will this week ask 32 countries to agree and back a code of principles on online gambling, the first international forum to regulate the industry as the U.S. imposes a ban.

Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, South Africa amongst others, will meet on Tuesday outside London for talks hosted by Jowell to agree on a code of conduct for internet gambling companies that offer gambling over the Web.

Delegates will discuss the following: age and identification verification systems, including the role of government in smoothing access to high quality data for gambling operators to identify customers. They will also look at social responsibility associated with remote gambling, including the role of government and whether operators should be required to fund awareness campaigns on problem gambling or offer website links to counselling.

A draft of the agreement proposed that countries should agree to “co-operate in development of and share best practice in protecting children and vulnerable people” and to “share findings of research into the remote gambling market”.

The measures are Britain’s attempt to regulate online gambling instead of criminalising it as U.S. President George W Bush favours.