No C 328/10 Official Journal of the European Communities 22. 12. 86 
2.7. Annex 
2.7.1. The Committee notes that Annex I lists four 
groups of foods for which specific provisions shall be 
laid down, but that two of these groups — infant 
formulae and follow-up milk — are already the subject 
of a proposal for a single Directive covering both. The information in the Annex is therefore confusing and 
should be corrected perhaps by a footnote thereto. 
2.7.2. Furthermore, the terms used in the different 
Community languages on follow-up milks present some 
anomalies and need to be re-examined and stan­
dardized. 
Done at Brussels, 17 September 1986. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Gerd MUHR 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council recommendation on the coordinated introduction of 
the integrated services digital network (ISDN) in the European Community^) 
(86/C 328/05) 
On 9 June 1986 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 100 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services, which was responsible for preparing 
the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 3 September 1986 in the light 
of the report by Mr Nierhaus. 
At is 239th plenary session (meeting of 17 September 1986) the Committee adopted the 
following opinion unanimously: 
1. Introduction 
1.1. The further development of telematics in the 
Community will have considerable economic and social 
repercussions which are difficult to gauge at the 
moment: the creation of a standardized Community-
wide integrated services digital network (ISDN) for the 
transmission of information will play a key role here. 
This is the only way in which it will be possible in the 
medium and long-term to attain the main goals of 
the Community's policy towards telecommunications 
which were approved by the Council on 17 December 
1984. These goals include, above all, 
— creating a Community-wide market for telecom­
munication terminals and equipment, and 
— improving the development of advanced telecom­
munication services and networks. 1.2. In consequence, the need to establish a Com­
munity-wide ISDN is set out in more or less explicit 
terms in all important Commission documents on the 
subject of telematics. 
1.3. The Economic and Social Committee has point­
ed out, especially in its opinions on the Commission 
communication to the Council on telecommunications 
and the report and proposal for a Council Decision on 
a preparatory action for RACE, that the development 
of a Community-wide integrated services digital net­
work is of primordial importance for telecommuni­
cations. 
1.4. This plan represents one of the major challenges 
in the field of technology: using existing telephone 
networks as its basis, it is likely to be phased in by 
the end of the century and will require considerable 
investment. 
(J) OJ No C 157, 24. 6. 1986, p. 3. 1.5. One reason why the Commission's plan acquires 
a special significance is that comparable developments 
22. 12. 86 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 328/11 
in, say, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), 
could give EFTA countries the chance to cooperate 
more closely with the Community. 
2. General comments 
2.1. The Committee gives its express support to the 
proposal because: 
— users will be provided with vast new possibilities for 
satisfying their growing demand for information, 
— the large markets created will give the telematics 
industry the chance to increase production, reduce 
prices and thus improve sales in the face of USA 
and Japanese competition, 
— the considerable investment required may also give 
employment a boost. 
2.2. . However, the Committee thinks that the Com­
mission's plan to create a cross-border integrated ser­
vices digital network could be implemented more read­
ily if the proposal were to take the form of a directive 
instead of a recommendation. 
2.3. Since funds will mainly have to be provided by 
national PTTs, the Member States will have to put 
considerable effort into coordinating the timing of the 
changeover and launch of the new services. 
2.4. Irrespective of this, the Committee calls on 
Member State Governments to use the recommendation 
to reach agreement on standardized bearer services, 
teleservices and supplementary services and on the 
requisite specifications for transmission protocols, 
interfaces and equipment standards. If possible, this 
should be an international agreement. 
3. Specific comments 
3.1. The Committee considers that a good basis has 
been created for the future because all Member States 
already agree that the basic aim should be to create an 
ISDN with three-channel basic access (2 x 64 Kbit/s + 
16 Kbit/s) or a primary rate access for PABXs with 
2 Mbit/s. It will thus be possible to convert the present 
telephone network gradually in such a way that the 
new services will be available, via the present network, 
to both private and business subscribers. 
3.2. Because of the considerable investment required 
to change over from analogue to digital transmission 
and switching, there is a danger that the gaps between 
the more and less developed regions of the Community will widen. Therefore, the possibility of Community 
funds being used to even out the advances made in the 
Community should be considered. 
The Committee points out in this connection that the 
funds earmarked for the STAR programme should not 
be reduced but that their deployment should be care­
fully linked to the introduction of the ISDN. 
3.3. The Committee would stress in particular the 
openings which reasonably-priced ISDN basic accesses 
may create for small and medium-sized enterprises. The 
high speed transmission and utilization of data and the 
numerous technical possibilities afforded will put SMEs 
in a better position to compete with large enterprises 
and will thus go some way towards putting them on 
an equal footing. 
3.4. The introduction of the ISDN will also require 
workers to learn new job skills. This should be taken 
into consideration by the Commission in good time. 
Suitable openings for basic and further training should 
be created in the countries of the Community with the 
support of Community projects. 
3.5. The development and launching of a narrow­
band ISDN based on the present analogue network is 
the subject of the present proposal. Although this goal 
represents a considerable technological challenge and 
will necessitate enormous expenditure, it is likely to 
be only one step on the road to a Community-wide 
broadband ISDN. Apart from offering further private 
services (e.g. TV, phone and video conferencing) the 
broadband ISDN will also make it possible to integrate 
public radio and TV broadcasting in full. Since this 
will have considerable technical, economic and social 
consequences, the Committee suggests that a discussion 
be held in the Community here and now on the relevant 
goals and their effects. At all events the goals must be 
defined at an early stage, because they will have a 
considerable impact or> the strategy for extending the 
network. Thus, regardless of any move to expand the 
ISDN further, it is debatable whether broadband tree 
networks should be constructed on a large scale for TV 
transmissions. 
3.6. The development of the ISDN and the fully 
integrated broadband network will benefit the economy 
but may also pose considerable social problems and 
threaten privacy (e.g. rationalizing effects of home-
banking, aggregation of personal data from various 
No C 328/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 22. 12. 86 
data banks, recording of telephone data, automatic 
speech recognition, monitoring of TV viewing). On the 
other hand, these networks will also make it technically 
possible to improve the protection of personal data. 
3.6.1. The Committee advocates more information 
from the relevant bodies and more public discussion on 
this subject so that the public's fears and mistrust 
can be dispelled and the requisite legal basis for the 
protection of privacy and personal data can be 
improved. The political feasibility of the new openings 
created by the ISDN will also depend on these matters 
being settled. The more intensive marketing campaign 
called for in the recommendation should cover this 
aspect more fully at a very early stage, on the basis of 
sound legal and social provisions. 3.6.2. On the other hand, the Committee considers 
that advanced integrated services networks will, for 
example, help to improve crime-detection methods and 
protect natural resources (e.g. saving of paper due to 
the use of electronic catalogues and records, long-term 
conservation of energy due to the replacement of TV 
transmitters, replacement of copper by silicon). These 
aspects should also be borne in mind in the marketing 
plans. 
3.7. The Committee, like the Commission, sees a 
close link between the acceptance of the new services 
and the fixing of charges. During the switchover from 
the analogue to the digital network, the present level 
of charges should be maintained in principle despite the 
need for more investment. An unjustifiable increase in 
charges is likely to stifle demand considerably and make 
it difficult to reduce unit costs by producing terminals 
in large quantities. 
Done at Brussels, 17 September 1986. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Gerd MUHR 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 85/611/EEC as regards 
jurisdiction in disputes arising from the marketing of units of undertakings for collective 
investment in transferable securities (UCITS) (*) 
(86/C 328/06) 
The Council decided on 7 May 1986 to ask the Economic and Social Committee, under 
Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, for an opinion 
on the abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services, which was responsible for the 
preparatory work, adopted its opinion on 9 July 1986 (rapporteur: Mr De Bruyn). 
At its 239th plenary session (meeting of 17 September 1986), the Economic and Social 
Committee adopted unanimously the following opinion: 
The Committee approves the proposal, subject to the 
following comments: 
1. Under Section VIII of the Council Directive of 
20 December 1985 coordinating the laws, regulations 
and administrative provisions concerning certain under-
(!) OJ No C 129, 28. 5. 1986, p. 5. takings for collective investment in transferable securi­
ties (UCITS), such organisations had certain obligations 
to carry out in Member States other than that in which 
they were situated when marketing their units in those 
states. A purchaser of UCITS units may bring disputes 
relating to compliance with the provisions contained in 
Section VIII before the relevant court in the country 
where the UCITS' head office is located under Article 2 
of the Brussels Convention of 27 September 1968 on 
jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil