Article 92
(2) (c) provides that aid granted to the economy of certain areas of the Federal Republic of Germany affected by the division of Germany, shall be compatible with the common market. The Commission has never considered the 'zonal border areas' of Germany to be automatically exempted from the control of State aid in favour of industrial sectors subject to a specific aid code established in order to combat a serious crisis. In particular in its letter of 6 November 1981 concerning the 10th joint Federal Government/Laender aid plan it had informed the German Government of this proviso, which the latter never contested. Moreover, this policy was confirmed when in 1985 and 1986 the Commission prohibited the granting of State aid to synthetic yarn producers situated in Neumuenster (1) and Deggendorf (2) in the 'zonal border area'. Thus, it has to be concluded that the aid granted or to be granted to Reinhold cannot benefit from the exemption provided for in Article 92 (2) (c) of the EEC Treaty.