Goodbye “Madame” or “Sir”: SNCF does not have to ask its customers for their gender identity, the Council of State rules after a request from an LGBT+ association
SNCF, via its website or its SNCF Connect app, "cannot require its customers to indicate their civility" ("Mr" or "Ms"), ruled the Council of State in a decision published Thursday, in accordance with a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The LGBT+ association Mousse denounced the practice of SNCF Connect "which systematically requires its customers to indicate their civility" when purchasing tickets online.
SNCF, via its website or its SNCF Connect app, "cannot require its customers to indicate their civility" ("Mr" or "Ms"), ruled the Council of State in a decision published Thursday, in accordance with a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The LGBT+ association Mousse denounced the practice of SNCF Connect "which systematically requires its customers to indicate their civility" when purchasing tickets online.
Before ruling, France's highest administrative court had consulted the CJEU. In its decision of January 9, 2025, the European Court ruled that "if the sole purpose of collecting the civility of a transport company's customers is to personalize commercial communications, it cannot be considered necessary for the performance of the contract between the user and the company," the Council of State wrote in its press release. And "if certain services, such as couchette compartments reserved for single women, involve taking into account data relating to gender, this does not justify the collection of civility being mandatory for all services offered by SNCF Connect," the French court specifies. In rendering its judgment, the European Court relied on the principle of "data minimization," which requires not collecting information that is unnecessary for the provision of the ordered service. […]
Fdesouche
