Abu Qatada - EU Time Limit Convention

Perhaps someone more intelligent than I can explain why the UK is bound by an EU Time Limit Convention that they have NOT signed up to

Surely the basic tenant of any 'contract' is that the parties must have signed up to the agreement in the first place - otherwise there is no contract

Whilst probably not relevant in these circumstances, failure to sign up makes it impossible to calculate Article 5 from the contents of Artical 11 because presumably details of Artical 11 have not been officially supplied - this can only be done when the member state signs up, which clearly the UK has not

Therefore the UK is NOT bound by any arbitrary EU Time Conventions and as such the appeal may well be time expired

References:

http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=076&CM=8&CL=ENG

http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ChercheSig.asp?NT=076&CM=8&DF=&CL=ENG

http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/076.htm

Article 5

Saturdays, Sundays and official holidays shall count when calculating a time-limit. However, where the dies ad quem of a time-limit before the expiry of which an act shall be performed is a Saturday, a Sunday, an official holiday or a day which shall be considered as an official holiday, the time-limit shall be extended to include the first working day thereafter.

Article 11

Each Contracting Party shall, when depositing its instrument of ratification, acceptance or accession, by a notification addressed to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, specify which days are or shall, for the purposes of Article 5 of this Convention, be considered to be official holidays in its territory or in a part thereof. Any changes in respect of the particulars of such notification shall thereafter be notified to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.