forcing customers to choose between “Mr” or “Madam” when buying a ticket is not essential, says EU justice

Mousse, an association fighting against discrimination linked to sex, gender and sexual orientation had sued SNCF Connect and the CNIL which had validated the fact of imposing this choice on its customers.

No, the mandatory collection of gender identity (“Mr” or “Madam”) when purchasing a train ticket is not essential and should therefore not be an obligation. This is the conclusion of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) at the end of a long legal journey.

“The Court considers that personalization of commercial communication based on a presumed gender identity based on the civility of the customer does not appear objectively essential in order to allow the correct execution of a rail transport contract”, we can say. read in the institution’s press release.

Reminder of the facts. In 2021, the Mousse association, which fights against discrimination linked to sex, gender and sexual orientation, contested with the CNIL (the personal data protection authority) the practice of SNCF Connect of systematically requiring its customers to indicate their civility when purchasing a train ticket.

The CNIL has validated the SNCF Connect approach

His argument: this obligation violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in particular, with regard to the principle of data minimization. According to her, the mention of civility, which corresponds to gender identity, does not seem necessary for the purchase of a rail transport ticket.

Quite surprisingly for personal data specialists, the CNIL then decided to reject this complaint, considering that this practice did not constitute a breach of the GDPR.

And to validate the argument of SNCF Connect which considers this request necessary to communicate with its customers in a manner consistent with “commonly accepted uses in civil, commercial and administrative communications”.

“Not objectively essential”

The association then appealed to the French Council of State to obtain the annulment of this decision. The latter then turned to the European Court of Justice to find out whether the collection of customer civility data, limited to the mentions “Mr” and “Madame”, can be qualified as lawful and compliant, in particular, with the principle of data minimization, “when this collection aims to enable personalized commercial communication with these customers, in accordance with commonly accepted practices in this area”.

The conclusion of the CJEU is therefore quite clear, this obligation is “not objectively essential in order to allow the correct execution of a contract”.

And to explain: “the railway company could opt for communication based on polite expressions that are generic, inclusive and without correlation with the presumed gender identity of customers, which would constitute a practicable and less intrusive solution”.

In a press release, Mousse’s lawyer, Etienne Deshoulières, welcomed “a historic decision in terms of recognition of the rights of sexual and gender minorities”.

The mere choice of a “Mr” or “Madam” category when purchasing a train ticket “contributes to fueling a feeling of exclusion” for intersex and non-binary people, he added.

With this opinion, the CJEU does not decide the case but gives its position to the competent authority, namely the Council of State, whose decision is now awaited.

Contacted by BFM business, SNCF Connect did not return our requests for comment.