According to the established case law, a candidate who appealed against failing the EQE but resat and passed it before the appeal had been decided still retained a legitimate interest in pursuing the appeal. This was confirmed in D 3/98. Any other view would amount to denying him recourse to the law; legitimate interest would then depend on how long proceedings took. However, appellants could exert little influence over that, and should therefore not have to suffer the consequences. Whether there was a legitimate interest was to be determined with reference to the date the proceedings were initiated (in this case, on the day the appeal was filed).