b) Announcing non-attendance – request for oral proceedings becoming ineffective 

In T 245/19 the board was of the opinion that a party's announcement that it would not be attending the hearing did not necessarily entail the withdrawal of a previously made request to present their arguments orally. It rather resulted in its request for oral proceedings becoming ineffective, irrespective of a declaration that the request for oral proceedings was explicitly maintained. The right to oral proceedings could not be understood as the right to have the board hold oral proceedings with the other parties to the proceedings. The board found that in view of the resulting ineffective request, the board may dispense with oral proceedings if no other reason made it necessary or desirable to hold them. See also T 2015/16.