No C 189/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 28. 7. 86 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision amending Decision 77/795/EEC establishing 
a common procedure for the exchange of information on the quality of surface fresh water in 
the Community 
(86/C 189/02) 
On 4 December 1985 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under 
Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the abovementioned 
proposal. 
The Section for Protection of the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Affairs, which was 
responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 
4 March 1986, in the light of the report by Mr Zoli. 
At its 236th plenary session (meeting of 23 April 1986), the Committee adopted the following 
opinion unanimously. 
1. General comments 
1.1. The Committee endorses the amendments con­
tained in Article 1 of the proposal and referring to Article 3 
of Decision 77/795/EEC, as a timely step to simplify and 
improve the procedures currently in force. 
1.2. More particularly, the Committee notes that 
instead of simply forwarding its report to the Member 
States, the Commission is to publish the report. The 
Committee hopes that the report will be widely circulated. 
1.3. Turning to the proposed amendment to Article 4, 
the Committee fully supports the Commission proposal to 
organize an intercalibration exercise, involving labora­
tories appointed by each Member State, to make the results obtained from analysis of the parameters easier to 
compare. 
1.4. The Committee feels that this exercise should be 
made obligatory, and should be periodically repeated. To 
this end, it proposes the deletion of the words 'if necessary' 
in Article 4.1. 
1.5. The Committee further suggests that the Commis­
sion extend the exercise proposed in Article 4 to cover the 
other Decisions and/or Directives on water control which 
involve the analysis of parameters. 
1.6. Lastly, the Committee endorses the proposal to 
supplement Annex II with a new parameter on the 
biological quality of water, and to add an Annex III giving 
the reference methods of measurement. 
Done at Brussels, 23 April 1986. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Gerd MUHR 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Directive on the adoption of common technical 
specifications of the MAC/packet family of standards for direct satellite television 
broadcasting 
(86/C 189/03) 
On 12 February 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 2 April 1986 in the light of the report by 
Mr Broicher. 
At its 236th plenary session (meeting of 23 April 1986), the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following opinion unanimously. 
28. 7.86 Official Journal of the European Communities ^oC189^ 
1. The Committee welcomes the Commissions pro 
posalforalOirective concerning the ^iACBpacl^et family of 
standards for direct satellite television broadcasting. 
2. IntheCommittee^sviewgheAiACsystemswillmal^e 
ama^or contribution to European cooperation and enable 
the countries of Europe to become better acquainted with 
each othePs culture and social andpohtical systems. In 
addition, it is important for the economic development of 
Europe that the manufacturing industry should be 
stimulated by the new technical developments and that its 
sales prospects should be considerably enhanced asaresult. 
^. The ^dAC systems use new methods of electronic 
signal transmission and are much cheaper to operate than 
the systems employed previously. A greater volume of 
information can be transmitted than by the traditional 
methods.The ^dACsystems have been specially developed 
for direct broadcasting by satellite ^lO^S^ and are well 
suitedtoitslOl^S transmissioncharactenstics. The great 
advantage of these systems lies in the improvement of the 
picture quality and — thanks to the digital technique 
applied — in the improvement ofthe sound.The luminance 
and the colour signals are nolonger superimposed in the 
picture.It will also be possible to usealarger screen in the 
nottoo^distant future. In addition,the numberof sound 
channels will be increased and stereo reception quality will 
be assured. This means also that multiple sound channels 
will be available for the transmission of television 
programmes in different languages — something that will be extremely important for European cooperation and the 
better mutual understanding ofthe peoples ofEurope.This 
is particularly significant for direct broadcasting by 
satellite, where thereceptionareasdonotcomcide with 
national frontiers. 
^. In the Committee^sview,it is ofgreat importance for 
European cooperation thataumform system should now 
belaiddownfor satelhtereceptiontechnology, after we 
have had to contend with two different systems d^AE and 
SECA^for conventional television transmission. 
^. It is also an advantage that smaller and therefore 
cheaper satellite aerials can be used. It will be possible to 
progressively reduce thegap between the price of these 
aerials and the price ofconventional television aerials. This 
means that the potential audience for satellite programmes 
willbe considerably increased. The^dember States with 
high cable network densities must be able to benefit from 
the advantages of this solution, too. 
6. The Committee expects that viewers in the member 
States will be able, withtime, to adapt to thecommon 
technical specifications, they must, however, be offered 
reasonable interim solutions in the transitional phase. 
^. The Committee also expects that due account will be 
tal^en of the expertise of broadcasters and the manufacture 
ingindustry,m the committee to be set up under Articled 
oftheEOirective. 
ro^neat^russels,2^Apnll986. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Gerd MUHR 
Opinion on the legal protection of original topographies of semiconductor products 
(86/C 189/04) 
On 20 January 1986 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under 
Article 100 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the legal protection of original 
topographies of semiconductor products. 
The Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services, which was responsible for preparing the 
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 2 April 1986 in the light of the draft 
opinion by Mr Noordwal (rapporteur). 
At its 236th plenary session of 23-24 April 1986 (meeting of 23 April 1986), the Committee 
adopted unanimously the following opinion.