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The absence of parties from oral proceedings is in general governed by R. 115(2) EPC and – for the boards of appeal – by Art. 15(3) RPBA 2007. Concerning non-attendance at oral proceedings before the examining division, see also the notice from the EPO published in OJ 2008, 471.
In T 731/93 the board stated that where fresh evidence had been admitted into the proceedings, the "subject" of such proceedings, as construed by reference to the text of Art. 116(1) EPC 1973 in all three official languages, could no longer be the same.
In T 298/97 (OJ 2002, 83) the board observed that the right to oral proceedings was not to two oral proceedings on the same subject. Any further oral proceedings on the issue of admissibility would therefore be a matter for the board's discretion.
According to Art. 116(1), second sentence, EPC the EPO may reject a request for further oral proceedings before the same department where the parties and the subject of the proceedings are the same.