8 COLOZZA v. ITALY JUGDMENT an appeal on points of law against the judgment concerning him. The timelimit for entering such an appeal begins to run only from the day on which he was notified of the decision by means of service of an extract from the judgment. However, in the case of a person who has also been declared to be "irreperibile" or "latitante", time begins to run from the date of the lodging of the judgment in the registry of the court that rendered it. C. "Late appeal" 23. According to Italian case-law, individuals who have not entered an appeal and who consider that the notification of the judgment was irregular can lodge a "late appeal". The time-limits to be observed are the same as for the ordinary appeal (three days for giving notice of appeal and twenty days for submitting the grounds), but both start to run from the date when the person in question had knowledge of the judgment. Nevertheless, in the case of a person regarded as "latitante" the court hearing the appeal can determine the merits of the criminal charge only if it finds that there has been a failure to comply with the rules governing declarations that an accused is "latitante" or governing service on him of the documents in the proceedings; in addition, it is for the person concerned to prove that he was not seeking to evade justice. D. Defence of the accused; related rules as to nullity 24. Article 185 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides, inter alia, that proceedings shall be null and void if the rules on the participation, assistance and representation of the accused have not been observed. Failure to serve a summons to appear at the hearing and the absence, at that stage, of the accused’s defence counsel constitute grounds of incurable nullity, of which the court must take notice of its own motion at any point in the proceedings. PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COMMISSION 25. Mr. Colozza applied to the Commission on 5 May 1980. He alleged that there had been several violations of Article 6 (art. 6) of the Convention. In particular, he complained that he was at no time aware of the proceedings instituted against him and that he had therefore not been able to defend himself in a practical and effective manner. He also relied on Article 13 (art. 13), maintaining that he had had no "effective remedy" against the judgment of the Rome Regional Court.