29. 8. 85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 218/9 
application by the owner of a trade mark or a registered 
model or design. 
3.5. Article 4 (3) requires clarification. The Member 
States should be offered two alternatives regarding the 
subsequent treatment of seized goods, corresponding to their 
national legal systems. 
3.6. If during the further proceedings it becomes clear 
that the goods are counterfeit, the applicant should be able to 
ask the importer for information about the origin of the 
goods. 
3.7. The measures referred to in Article 5 should be 
Done at Brussels, 3 July 1985. 
1. General comments 
1.1. The Committee recognizes that the proposal is a 
further step towards helping doctors to exercise their right of 
establishment and free movement within the Community. 
1.2. The Committee supports the aim of the proposal, 
which is to give general practioners not only basic training, 
but to complement this with specific training in general 
practice. This should prepare them better for their work, 
concentrating more on the health of the individual as a whole 
and putting prevention on the same footing as cure. 
0) OJNoC 13, 15. 1. 1985, p. 3. detailed more precisely, to prevent the release, by whatever 
means, of counterfeit goods onto the common market. 
3.8. As some Member States have more advanced 
administrative procedures for combating counterfeiting (e.g. 
seizures without an application from the trade-mark owner), 
the Commission should look into the possibilities of 
harmonizing legal and administrative procedures here, also 
bearing in mind Article 36 of the Treaty of Rome. 
4. The Committee hopes that the Community will draw 
the attention of the other contracting parties in GATT to the 
proposals contained in the present opinion. 
1.3. The major features of the specific training are that it 
is to consist of at least two years' full-time training, and is to 
be practically rather than theoretically based, whilst the 
provisions on 
— part-time training (Article 3), and the 
— possession of an equivalent qualification (Article 4) 
should be regarded as applicable only in exceptional 
cases. 
1.4. In addition to the principles and requirements set out 
in Article 2, the Committee feels that the Advisory 
Committee on Medical Training set up under Directive 
75/364/EEC could usefully draw up guidelines taking into 
consideration the evaluations it has already made public on The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Gerd MUHR 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Directive on specific training in general medical 
practice (J) 
(85/C 218/05) 
On 7 January 1985 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Articles 
49,57 and 66 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 5 June 1985, in the light of the oral report by 
Mr d'Elia. 
At its 228th plenary session (meeting of 3 July 1985) the Economic and Social Committee adopted the 
following opinion unanimously: 
No C 218/10 Official Journal of the European Communities 29. 8. 85 
the content and methods of courses which lead to a diploma, 
certificate or other specific training qualification. 
1.4.1. The Committee feels that only by ensuring the 
greatest possible uniformity of the criteria governing training 
content and methods can a comparable high level of 
proficiency be guaranteed that takes into account, as far as 
possible, the experiences of certain Member States. 
1.4.2. The Committee notes further that the comments 
made in point 1.4.1 must also be regarded as applicable to 
basic training. 
1.5. The Committee realizes the implications of the 
reforms outlined in point 1.4 above. These will, to a more or 
less decisive degree, affect overall regulations and the 
organization of first degree and post-graduate medicine 
courses, which at present vary greatly from one Member 
State to the next. The Committee would however 
recommend that the Advisory Committee (Directive 
75/364/EEC) be asked to look into this complex 
problem. 
2. Specific comments 
2.1. Third recital 
2.1.1. The Committee proposes rewording the second 
part of this recital as follows: 
'Whereas this function is characterized by the doctor's 
personal knowledge of his patients' living and working 
environment, and consists of giving advice on the 
prevention of illness and on the preservation of the health 
of the individual as a whole, and of giving appropriate 
treatment'. 
2.2. Article 2 (1) (c) 
2.2.1. This specifies that practical instruction is to be 
given in a suitably equipped hospital or clinic. Its wording is 
very general. In order to ensure that training concentrates on 
the practical aspects of medicine rather than theory it should 
be clearly stated that, in addition to suitable equipment, the 
hospitals or clinics must also have suitable departments for 
training for general practice. 
The following wording is therefore proposed: 
'it shall be practically rather than theoretically based, the 
practical instruction being given in a suitably equipped 
hospital or clinic which has1 departments suitable for 
practical training for general medical practice, and for at 
least six months . . . concerned with general medical 
practice;'. 2.2.2. The wording of the reference in Article 2 (1) (c) to 
the six-month training period 'in an approved general 
medical practice' differs considerably in the various language 
versions. 
The Italian reads 'presso un gabinetto di medico generico 
abilitato' ('in the surgery of a qualified general practitioner'); 
the German reads 'in anerkannten Allgemeinpraxen' ('in 
approved general practice'); the French reads 'dans le cadre 
d'une pratique de medecine gen£rale agreee' ('within the 
framework of an approved general medical practice'). This 
point could raise practical problems in so far as, in some 
Member States at least, not all doctors wishing to gain 
specific training in general practice will be able to find a 
practice in which to do their six months' practical training. 
To prevent differing interpretations and to make this type of 
training more accessible, we should go by what is expressed 
in the French version. 
2.3. Article 2 (1) (d) 
2.3.1. This stipulates 'the personal participation of the 
candidate in the activities and responsibilities of the persons 
with whom he works'. It should be specified that these are 
exclusively medical activities, or at any rate activities 
connected with the exercise of the medical profession. In the 
Committee's view, it should also be specified that the 
candidate is personally responsible, especially from the legal 
angle, for the consequences of his decisions, given that 
responsibility lies with the person actually carrying out the 
activities and cannot be delegated to a third party. 
2.3.2. It is therefore proposed that Article 2 (1) (d) be 
reworded as follows: 
'it shall entail the personal participation of the candidate 
in the medical activities and responsibilities of the persons 
with whom he works, within the limitations of the 
activities carried out by the candidate.' 
2.4. Article 3 (1) 
2.4.1. This Article deals with part-time training. The 
wording of paragraph 1 again differs in the various language 
versions (English: 'well-founded reasons'; other languages: 
'justified personal cases', 'justified individual circumstances', 
'well-founded personal reasons'). The Committee therefore 
proposes a single reference to: 
'justified personal cases'. 
2.5. Article 4 
This states that Member States may issue the certificate 
or other evidence of formal qualification referred to in 
29. 8. 85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 218/11 
Article 1 (1) to a doctor who has not completed the training 
referred to in Article 2 but holds an equivalent specialist 
qualification. The Committee is a little concerned that if the 
system is too liberal and flexible it might allow individual 
Member States to go against the philosophy underpinning 
specific training in general medicine, as set out in the third, 
fourth, fifth and sixth recitals. The aim of the proposal is to 
produce a general practitioner able to offer increasingly 
appropriate, high quality treatment, especially in preventive 
medicine. It seems unlikely that specialists in other fields 
would be able to provide such a service; although highly skilled in their own discipline, they might not be suited to the 
specific duties of a family doctor. 
It is therefore proposed that the second indent of Article 4(1) 
be reworded to read as follows: 
'the diploma issued attests to a level of skill equivalent to 
that reached on completion of the training referred to in 
Article 2 and to detailed knowledge of the health 
problems connected with the living environment and with 
the preservation of the health of the individual as a 
whole.' 
Done at Brussels, 3 July 1985. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Gerd MUHR 
Opinion on the proposal for an 18th Council Directive on the harmonization of the laws of the 
Member States relating to turnover taxes - abolition of certain derogations provided for in Article 28 
(3) of Directive 77/388/EEC - common system of value added tax (J) 
(85/C 218/06) 
Procedure 
On 18 December 1984 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 Economic and Financial Questions, which was responsible for preparing the 
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 23 April 1985 in the light of the oral report 
by Mr Broicher. 
At its 228th plenary session (meeting of 3 July 1985) the Economic and Social Committee adopted the 
following opinion by a majority vote with five abstentions: 
1. General comments 
The Committee welcomes the Commission proposal, the 
implementation of which will not only lead to further 
harmonization of the Member States' laws relating to 
turnover taxes, but will also facilitate the calculation of 
Community own resources, a process at present considerably 
impeded by the existence of variations. Hitherto, where 
exemptions have been allowed, special calculations have 
been required which are both labour-intensive and 
approximate in their results. 
The Committee feels, however, that the implementation of 
some of the proposed measures could be brought forward 
0) OJ No C 347, 29. 12. 1984, p. 3. and that in the interests of uniform and fair taxation a 
number of significant alterations are required to Article 28 of 
the Sixth EEC Directive on the harmonization of the laws of 
the Member States relating to turnover taxes. 
2. Specific comments 
Sixth Directive, Article 1, Annex E, point 2 
It seems unjustifiable that dental technicians' services and the 
supply of dental prostheses should be tax-exempt, whilst 
similar services performed by doctors or the supply of other 
prostheses such as artificial limbs or hearing aids are 
taxed.