r) Unavailability of an accompanying person – Article 15(2)(c)(iv) RPBA 2020

In T 777/17 the board stated that the reason provided by the respondent for requesting the postponement related to the impossibility of in-house counsel attending these oral proceedings; however, this reason is specifically listed in Art. 15(2)(c)(iv) RPBA 2020 as one of the reasons which, as a rule, do not justify a change to the date of the oral proceedings. The argument that the representative was relying on the support of the in-house counsel was not convincing as the representative must have been able to properly present the case without such support.