Yes, absolutely. Regardless of the size of your business, if you're unable to respond to a patent office request in a timely manner, you may lose your rights, absolutely. By granting an opportunity for the commissioner to declare a force majeure event and extend the time to respond—for example when you're office is flooded and you can't get to your materials—it preserves those rights for those companies.
On June 4th, 2015. See this statement in context.