Generic Coding is a description of textual documents regardless of their explicit representation, e.g. on paper or computerscreen. The usage of this form causes advantage of processing of documents: Access, storage, retriev and reuse can be enhanced, because the semantic structure of the document is preserved. Generic Coding is usually realized by Markup Languages like SGML or the Extensible Markup Language (XML).

A special generic coding Markup Language for clinical purposes, called Munich Medical Report (MucMedRep), has been developed. The basic criteria for its definition are the following rules:

1. The description is formal, its correctness can be checked by a simple and deterministic algorithm. 2. The description is structured, references are maintained. 3. The description is independent of the choose of media, it is independent of the selected presentation form 4. The description is independent of the choice of transmission protocol. 5. The description is independent of the choice of a special product. 6. The description allows an exchange of data beyond the the boundaries of an institution. 7. The description can be used with a lot of different document types.

The description has been formulated in XML. Equivalant formulations are given in CORBA/IDL and in a relational data model. Its relations to international standards are shown. Concept and design of a system using the MucMedRep are presented.

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