A Practice Challenged by the Mousse Association

France’s highest administrative court has ruled that SNCF, the national railway company, cannot require passengers to select a title—such as “Mr.” or “Ms.”—when purchasing train tickets online. This ruling applies to both the SNCF website and its mobile application, SNCF Connect. The decision followed a legal challenge initiated by the LGBTQ+ rights organization Mousse, which argued that this practice was discriminatory and non-compliant with data protection regulations. Even though the company had recently ceased enforcing this requirement, Mousse pursued the case to obtain formal legal recognition of its unlawfulness.

Violation of GDPR According to the Council of State

In a statement, the French Council of State emphasized that the requirement to disclose one’s title was at odds with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Mousse had contended that this forced disclosure amounted to an unjustified processing of personal data. Before issuing a verdict, the Council sought clarification from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which stated in January 2025 that “if the collection of a customer’s title by a transport company serves only to personalize marketing communication, it cannot be deemed necessary for the execution of a transport contract.”

Data Minimization Principle Central to the Case

The CJEU based its opinion on the principle of “data minimization,” which dictates that only data essential to a service should be collected. Using this guidance, the Council of State pointed out that while certain niche services—such as women-only sleeper compartments—may justify collecting gender-related information, this does not warrant a blanket mandate on all SNCF Connect services to gather title-based data from every customer.

No Legitimate Business Interest Justified

The Council of State concluded that requiring passengers to indicate their title did not constitute a legitimate interest or contractual necessity for SNCF. The ruling emphasized that “compelling customers to disclose their title exceeds the bounds of what is strictly necessary to fulfill the legitimate interest of SNCF Connect.” Consequently, the court ordered the French state to pay €3,000 in legal fees to the Mousse association.

A Shift in Digital Practices

The case originated from a complaint filed by Mousse with France’s data protection authority, CNIL, which was initially dismissed in March 2021. The association then escalated the matter to the Council of State. In the interim, SNCF Connect updated its internal policies. “As of May, SNCF Connect no longer collects customer titles for train ticket purchases within France,” the company stated in a release shared with AFP. It also reiterated that, as a ticket distributor, it adheres to the data collection standards set by transportation operators.

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