d) Applicability of Article 13(2) RPBA 2020 in cases where the statement of grounds of appeal or the reply was filed before the entry into force of the RPBA 2020 

In T 1775/18 the appellant pointed out that it had filed its statement of grounds of appeal before the entry into force of the RPBA 2020. Applying the strict criteria of Art. 13(2) RPBA 2020 to the case in hand would therefore go against procedural fairness. The board, however, had no doubt that the legislator had been aware of, and accepted, the difficulties faced by appellants of pending appeals. In this context, the board noted that the text of the RPBA 2020 had been published well before their entry into force, thus leaving appellants of pending appeals time to consider whether their statement of grounds of appeal needed to be supplemented. See also T 884/18.