System Requirements
Your browser and/or system configuration needs the following minimum requirements
to be able to use Kluwer Merger Check:
- Microsoft Windows 98 or later;
- Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 or later. (Download the most recent Internet Explorer browser at http://www.microsoft.com);
- Javascript and Cookies turned on;
- Pop-up blocker turned off.
Logging On
Kluwer Merger Check is a subscriber only website. It is an extension of Kluwer Competition Law. You will find the tabs for both products on www.kluwercompetitionlaw.com and www.kluwermergercheck.com. You can subscribe to these products individually or in combination.
You can subscribe to Kluwer Merger Check by contacting our sales department at sales@kluwerlaw.com or at telephone number (+31) 172 64 1562. Our sales department will then supply you with a user ID and password which you need for logging on. Alternatively, you can sign up for a free 2 week trial by clicking on the 'FREE 2 week trial' button.
If your subscription is based on IP-address recognition, you will be logged on automatically without having to enter a user ID or password.
When you have password access, you will be prompted to enter your user ID and password when you start a new Merger Check. Alternatively, type your user ID and password in the log-on box on the Kluwer Competition Law homepage. Depending on your subscription you will then be logged on to either Kluwer Merger Check, Kluwer Competition Law, or both.
If your subscription to Kluwer Merger Check is through the CCH Internet Research Network (CCH IRN), you should log on to IRN first. You can follow the link 'IRN customers, please logon here' in the Kluwer Merger Check log-on prompt or the Kluwer Competition Law log-on box. You can also log on directly by entering your IRN user ID and password in the logon prompt or logon box. On IRN, you can find Kluwer Merger Check on the tabs 'Mergers and Acquisitions' and 'Antitrust and Trade Regulation'.
Please note that you can always tell whether you are logged on by checking the top of the screen. If you are logged on, you will see the text 'logged on | log off'.
The top menu bar provides information about Kluwer Merger Check, Kluwer Competition Law and Kluwer Law International.
There are 5 buttons in the top menu bar:
- Home
- About us
- Help
- Legal notices
- Contact
The Home button brings you, from any location within the tool, back to the home page of Kluwer Merger Check.
About us gives information about Kluwer Law International (you are redirected to our main website www.kluwerlaw.com), Kluwer Merger Check (including the Editors and the list of contributors), Kluwer Competition Law, and our other online products (you are redirected to the online products page on www.kluwerlaw.com).
The Help – Kluwer Merger Check takes you to the start of this user manual. Help – Kluwer Competition Law will take you to the Kluwer Competition Law user manual.
Under Legal notices you can find the following information: Copyright notice, Disclaimer, General terms of use, Privacy policy, and Terms and conditions for subscribers.
On the Contacts page you can find contact details for Kluwer Competition Law and Kluwer Merger Check and find out how to contact our Sales staff, Publishing department, Rights, permissions and licensing staff, Technical support staff, and our office addresses.
Underneath the top menu bar, the tabs Kluwer Competition Law, Kluwer Merger Check and Other online products allow you to toggle between the different KLI products. Clicking other online products will direct you to the other online products page of our main site www.kluwerlaw.com.
Left-hand Menu
Start New Merger Check
This is where you begin when you want to start a new Merger Check.
Press Start New Merger Check either in the left-hand menu or on the homepage of the tool.
Restart Existing Merger Check
At any point within your Merger Check, you can exit the tool and come back to work on that particular Merger Check at a later date. In order to do this you first need to save your Merger Check. See Saving.
Press Restart Existing Merger Check either in the left-hand menu or on the homepage of the tool. You then need to enter your email address and the ID code that was sent to you when you saved the Merger Check.
Your Merger Check will restart on the page you exited.
Glossary
The glossary provides guidance as to the definition of terms used in the tool. Where relevant, references to Commission Notices have been given. Terms contained within the glossary are underlined where they appear in the tool, allowing you easy access to the definition. Clicking on them will take you straight to the relevant part of the Glossary in a separate screen.
You can also access the Glossary at the bottom of each screen of the tool.
General
The Merger Check tool consists of five tabs: Jurisdictions, Undertakings, Check, Status Report, and Final Report.
Jurisdictions is your starting point. From there, move on to each next tab or within the Check tab using the Next Step button at the bottom of each screen of the tool. When you have completed your Merger Check by answering the last question in the Check tab, you will automatically be directed to the final tab, Final Report. The Status Report in-between can be visited at any time to check and correct the intermediate results of your Merger Check.
When a tab is grey, it cannot be accessed. When it is green, the tab can be revisited in order to amend information already submitted.
Note that changing information by going to Status Report or to the different tabs may result in additional questions or may require new answers to questions you had already answered. The tool will automatically pose the new relevant questions.
If you have forgotten to enter any requested data, the data you are trying to submit is in the wrong format or you have changed any information, you will be prompted by the tool.
Jurisdictions
On this tab, you can select one or more jurisdictions where the parties to the transaction have a business interest. Alternatively, you can choose the Select All box.
Jurisdictions currently covered are:
European Union, EFTA, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States. New jurisdictions will be added in the future.
Information on the jurisdictions included in this tool will be updated on a regular and timely basis. Please note that you will always be able to see the date on which the information relating to the jurisdiction concerned was last updated in the Final Report. See Final Report for more information.
Once all relevant jurisdictions have been checked, click on Next Step to move to the next tab.
Undertakings
Here you can provide names for each undertaking concerned in the proposed transaction. At least two undertakings need to be entered. They do not need to be the actual names and can be fictitious if you prefer. Type the name in the box and press Submit. This enables you to enter a new undertaking.
See Functionality for more information on the Pencil and Cross buttons.
Once all undertakings have been entered click on Next Step to move to the next tab.
Check
In the Check tab you will be asked a series of questions relating to the undertakings you have identified in the jurisdictions you have selected. You will be taken through the questions one at a time. Answering a Yes/No question will immediately take you to the next question; for other questions, you need to press the Next Step button as usual.
When you are asked to enter an amount, you should populate the fields with exact amounts where possible. Please do not fill in an estimated amount. If you wish to work on the basis of an estimate, select the 'Estimate' button which will enable the tool to prompt you at a later stage with further questions. Selecting the estimate button disables the field where you can fill in an amount.
Amounts should be rounded up and should be entered using a dot after the millions, e.g.:
4,256,901 should be entered as 4.3
Whole and half millions should be entered in abbreviated form, e.g.:
- 26,000,000 should be entered as 26
- 14,500,000 should be entered as 14.5
At any point within the Check tab you can go to the Status Report which enables you to check and if necessary amend any answers which you have already given. See Status Report for more information.
After answering the last question in the Check tab, you will automatically be directed to the Final Report.
Status Report
At any point within the Check tab you can go to the Status Report to have an overview of and the opportunity to amend the answers and information you provided.
The overview consists of two parts:
1. a review of the questions and answers already addressed
2. a table containing the turnover figures for each undertaking identified by you;
Press the Pencil button to change/edit answers to questions or to add or delete undertakings. You will be redirected to the relevant question in the Check tab or to the Undertakings tab respectively.
If you wish to add or delete jurisdictions, please go directly to the Jurisdictions tab.
From the Jurisdictions and Undertakings tab, please return to the Check tab using the Next Step button as usual.
See Functionality for more information on the Pencil and Cross buttons.
Please note: adding, deleting, or changing any information may result in additional questions or may require new answers to questions you had already answered. The tool will however pose the new relevant questions automatically when you are (back) within the Check tab. As a consequence, you can only change one answer or piece of information at a time.
Final Report
The Final Report is the end result of your Merger Check. Here you will find the conclusion regarding the notification requirements:
- should the contemplated transaction be notified in the particular jurisdiction?
- is filing mandatory or voluntary?
- what are the deadlines for filing of notification, if any?
- what are the consequences, if any, of not notifying or notifying too late?
- what are the filing fees, if any?
You will also see an overview in the form of a table of the turnover of all undertakings indentified by you for each jurisdiction. There will be a line giving the date on which the Editors last reviewed and/or updated the information.
You can now print, store, or email your Final Report. See Printing, Storing and Emailing.
Functionality
Within the Status Report, pressing the Pencil symbol will redirect you to the relevant tab in the tool where you can then amend the information concerned.
Within the Undertakings tab, the Pencil symbol allows you to edit the name of the undertaking and the Cross symbol allows you to delete an undertaking.
Saving
At any time within the tool, you can save the Merger Check you are working on using the Save option.
Simply press the Save button and you will get a pop-up screen asking you to provide your email address and a reference of your choice for your Merger Check. Pressing Save and Proceed then takes you back to where you were; Save and Exit means you leave that Merger Check and return to the homepage of tool.
Your Merger Check is now saved and your access details (ID code) for revisiting that particular Merger Check will be emailed to you immediately. You should store the email somewhere safe as Kluwer Law International is unable to provide you with this information in case of loss.
IMPORTANT NOTE: the Merger Check in question will be saved for 30 days from when you last accessed it. After that it will be deleted!
Once you have saved your Merger Check, there is no need to do so again. You can simply exit the tool and your data will be saved.
When you want to start working again on the saved Merger Check, go to Restart Existing Merger Check on the homepage of the tool. See Restart Existing Merger Check.
Printing, Storing and Emailing
Pressing the Export button when you have come to your Final Report will open the report in a separate screen of your browser. You can now use the functionality of your browser to print, store, and/or email your Final Report. Alternatively, you can use the Print button to print the Report directly.
Please note that the actual Merger Check within the tool itself can only be accessed for 30 days after it was last accessed. See Saving. Alternatively, you can use the Print Button to print the Report directly.
Exiting
You can press the Exit button at any time within your Merger Check. If you have not saved your Merger Check you will be prompted to do so.
Once you have saved your Merger Check, there is no need to do so again. You can simply exit the tool and your data will be saved.
