You may not like the term "common general knowledge" and I do agree with both you and Emma that the German version is clearer and more transparent, but this really is the term generally used in, among others, European, UK and Australian patent law for this legal concept (although patent agents and courts still argue constantly about its precise definition). "In the art" covers the "Fach" part, but is frequently omitted (though still implied or understood) in English. There is even a standard abbreviation "cgk". It is possible to find lots of references to this in, e.g. decisions by the UK Patent Office, documents written by patent agents, etc. Here are just a few examples:

the invention claimed was not patentable because it was not new and/or lacked inventive step “having regard to the teaching of GB1298957 et seq and the common general knowledge in the art”; and
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/patent/p-decisionmaking/p-challenge/p-...

Common general knowledge (“CGK”)
17. Although objections sometimes referred to CGK, it was rarely explicitly defined nor was it explained how or why the skilled worker could be considered to have that CGK.
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/report-inventive.pdf

Common general knowledge
Warren J. considered the topic of common general knowledge in some detail. It was important to differentiate between matter which was in the public domain at the priority date of the patent and matter which can be properly regarded as common general knowledge. Common general knowledge means the information which at the date of the patent is known and accepted without question by the skilled person in the art. Evidence that a fact was known, or even well-known to a witness does not mean it is common general knowledge. A piece of information in a scientific paper does not become common general knowledge because it is widely read but nor is it necessary to show that the information is known in the sense that it has been memorised by the skilled person. Material which is known to exist and to which the skilled person would refer to as a matter of course, even if he cannot remember it, and which he understands is generally regarded as sufficiently reliable to use as a foundation for further work or to help understand the pleaded prior art is part of the common general knowledge.
http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:FNtPFdwVSdUJ:www.twobir...

The common general knowledge
General principles
It is important to have a clear understanding of the meaning of the common general knowledge. (et seq.)
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2008/2413.html

PS Although the EPO Guidelines quoted by Emma use "common general knowledge" throughout, there is actually one instance of the use of "general technical knowledge" (see C III 4.3 (ii)):
http://www.epo.org/patents/law/legal-texts/html/guiex/e/c_ii...
http://www.epo.org/patents/law/legal-texts/html/guiex/d/c_ii...



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Note added at 1 day23 hrs (2010-02-24 09:20:40 GMT) Post-grading
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Thanks, David - happy to have helped!