c) Oral proceedings 

Oral proceedings take place either at the instance of the disciplinary body if it considers this to be expedient or at the request of the party (Art. 13 RDR). In D 9/17, though the appellant had requested oral proceedings in relation to her main request, no such request had been filed with respect to the question raised in the board's communication on whether an appeal was deemed to have been filed (which turned on the question of valid payment of the appeal fee – see under b) above). Considering that the question whether an admissible appeal existed was to be examined by the appeal board ex officio, and the appellant had not availed herself of the opportunity which she had been given to comment on the reasons for the decision, the DBA did not consider oral proceedings to be expedient.