8.2 Conduct of oral proceedings 

Oral proceedings before the Receiving Section will be conducted by the appointed officer and those before the examining or opposition divisions by the chair of the division concerned. Oral proceedings before the Legal Division will be conducted by a legally qualified member of the Legal Division.

The responsibilities of the person conducting the oral proceedings include keeping order and managing the formal and substantive aspects.

In particular, the person conducting the proceedings must ensure that, where necessary, a list is prepared of all disputed or unclear points relevant to the decision to be reached, that these are discussed and that the party or parties have the opportunity to comment on them. In the case of oral proceedings by videoconference, the person conducting them must also make sure that no technical problems have prevented them from being held in accordance with the right to be heard and the right to oral proceedings (see E‑III, 8.2.3).

At the same time, the oral proceedings are to be conducted strictly and efficiently, so that the submissions of the party or parties and the related discussions are not unnecessarily digressive and do not deal with points which are irrelevant to the decision to be reached. Repetition is to be avoided as far as possible. In particular, written material which was submitted to the competent department and to the party or parties in due time and which has already been the subject of proceedings need not be read out in extenso, and it may be enough simply to refer to it.