Allegations that Naver unfairly excluded Toss Place in the process of linking store point-of-sale (POS) systems were raised at a parliamentary audit. The Fair Trade Commission said it would look into whether Naver gave preferential treatment to its own services or unfairly discriminated against rival businesses.

At an Oct. 12 audit of the Fair Trade Commission by the National Assembly Political Affairs Committee, Rep. Song Eon-seok of the People Power Party raised the issue, saying Naver has linked services with 15 POS companies but is excluding only Toss Place's "Toss POS".

Naver's "Place Plus" is a service that links store POS data with Naver Search and map services to provide information about stores. Differences in whether systems are linked can lead to differences in store information provided to users.

Song said Naver's search platform has a significant impact on sales for small merchants and self-employed business owners, and excluding a specific POS company from linkage could undermine fair competition.

He also referred to Naver's request for a police investigation related to Toss' reward-type advertising and questioned the background of the conflict between the two sides.

Choi Jae-ho (최재호), CEO of Toss Place who attended as a witness, said the issue involved a request by Toss Place to link with Naver from two years ago. He said filing a complaint with police was completely separate because it was related to another advertising service of the parent company.

He said he also did not receive a clear explanation for why Naver refuses to link with Toss POS.

Choi said, "At first, I was told there was a priority to link with other POS companies." He said, "We kept requesting it for two years, but we could not hear about any special standards or reasons."

Song stressed that the Fair Trade Commission needs to review whether Naver's linkage policy amounts to an unfair refusal to deal or discriminatory treatment.

He said, "It looks like clear discriminatory treatment for Naver to link with 15 POS companies without special reasons but not link only Toss Place's POS business."

Fair Trade Commission Chairman Joo Byeong-ki (주병기) replied, "I recently heard about this dispute and checked the claims of the parties." He said, "It seems we should look into whether there is self-preferencing by Naver and unfair discrimination against rival businesses."

Song asked the Fair Trade Commission to confirm the existing affiliation criteria for POS companies and the reasons for excluding Toss Place, and to report to his office on the progress of its review and legal issues by the time of the comprehensive parliamentary audit. Joo replied, "I will."