The two-dimensional interface crack problem is investigated for
anisotropic bodies in the Comninou formulation. It is established that, as in the
isotropic case, properly incorporating contact zones at the crack tips avoids
contradictions connected with the oscillating asymptotic behaviour of physical and
mechanical characteristics leading to the overlapping of material. Applying the
special integral representation formulae for the displacement field the problem in
question is reduced to the scalar singular integral equation with the index equal
to -1. The analysis of this equation is given. The comparison with the results of
previous authors shows that the integral equations corresponding to the interface
crack problems in the anisotropic and isotropic cases are actually the same from
the point of view of the theoretical and numerical analysis.