8.3.1 Legal provisions and sources of information

While holding oral proceedings pursuant to Art. 116 EPC by videoconference (upon request) has been a long-standing practice before examining divisions (see notices from the EPO applicable prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic: OJ 1997, 572; OJ 2006, 585; OJ 2012, 354; OJ 2018, A96), this practice was only extended to opposition divisions, the Receiving Section, the Legal Division and the boards of appeal in 2020, due to the pandemic situation.