Guidelines for Examination

Requests for the postponement of oral proceedings

A request for the postponement of oral proceedings is allowable only if the party concerned can advance serious reasons which justify the fixing of a new date (see T 1080/99, T 300/04, J 4/03 and T 178/03). The request to fix another date must be filed as soon as possible after the grounds preventing the party concerned from attending the oral proceedings have arisen. It must be accompanied by a sufficiently substantiated written statement indicating these reasons (see OJ EPO 2009, 68; see also T 178/03).

Serious reasons to request a change of the date for oral proceedings may be, for instance:

a previously notified summons to oral proceedings of the same party in other proceedings before the EPO or a national court

for the same date or

for the preceding or following day or

for the two preceding or two following days where the other oral proceedings are to take place at a geographically distant location,

serious illness,

a death within the family,

the marriage of a person whose attendance in oral proceedings is relevant,

military service or other obligatory performance of civic duties,

business trips which have been firmly booked before notification of the summons to oral proceedings,

holidays which have already been firmly booked before notification of the summons to oral proceedings. In the case of holidays scheduled but not yet booked, the representative should indicate the circumstances (e.g. school holidays) which prevent the holidays from being rescheduled.

If the grounds for postponing the oral proceedings submitted by a party do not meet the above criteria, the Division will inform the parties that the oral proceedings will take place as set out in the summons.

It should be noted that in opposition proceedings, in particular if more than one opponent is involved, a more strict approach may be applied to prevent a series of postponements (see T 1102/03).

Grounds which, as a rule, are not acceptable are, for instance:

a summons to oral proceedings before the EPO or a national court notified after the summons in the relevant proceedings,

excessive work pressure.

In order to make effective use of the available meeting rooms, and as Mondays and Fridays are normal working days, oral proceedings will be scheduled for these days. The fact that the representative and/or the parties have to travel at weekends is not a sufficient reason to change the date of the oral proceedings. The departments of first instance will however, circumstances permitting, try to be flexible where there is a request to postpone the starting time in order to enable the party to travel on the same day.

A request to have oral proceedings held at an EPO site other than that indicated in the summons is not allowable (see T 1012/03).

7.1 Postponement of oral proceedings at the instigation of the Division

7.2 Postponement of oral proceedings - defined notice period

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Guidelines for Examination