A SPECIAL REPORT: INTERNATIONAL TRADE

COMMON MARKET: Many American companies fear they will be locked out of European trade when the 12-nation European Community becomes a common market next year. Restrictions are viewed as so stringent that EC has been dubbed Fortress Europe. . . . But Beckman Instruments, for one, has crossed the moat. The big Fullerton instruments maker recently secured tough EC certification to continue selling its medical products in Europe, said a Beckman spokesman, adding: “We are joining them, not fighting them.”