While the English equivalent FRG was used as an IOC country code and a FIFA trigramme, the use of BRD was strongly discouraged by the authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany itself during the 1970s, because it was considered to be a derogatory communist term following its widespread use in East Germany since 1968.[1][3] The term was not banned by law, but its use was discouraged or forbidden in schools in Western Germany in the 1970s.[4] After German reunification, the country is usually referred to simply as Germany (Deutschland), and hence the need for abbreviations is greatly diminished.