On July 31, 2025, the French Conseil d'État ruled that SNCF Connect cannot require clients to specify their civil status, such as 'Monsieur' or 'Madame', when purchasing tickets online.

Following this ruling, SNCF has updated its website to eliminate the mandatory requirement for travelers to indicate their civil status.

This decision originated from a complaint by the LGBT+ rights association Mousse, which argued that the requirement violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Mousse's initial complaint to the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (Cnil) was rejected in March 2021, leading them to escalate the issue to the Conseil d'État.

The Conseil d'État emphasized that the obligation to provide civil status data exceeded what is strictly necessary for SNCF's legitimate interests.

Ultimately, the Conseil d'État concluded that the requirement for clients to indicate their civil status was unnecessary and awarded €3,000 to the Mousse association.

The court highlighted that collecting civil status data is not necessary for the execution of transport contracts and should not be mandatory for all services offered by SNCF.

The ruling aligns with the principle of data minimization emphasized by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which states that unnecessary information should not be collected in service provision.

This decision reflects a broader trend in European law, as it follows a similar ruling from the CJEU regarding the collection of personal data.

The CJEU had previously ruled on January 9, 2025, that collecting gender data for commercial personalization is not necessary for contract execution between service providers and clients.

This ruling was influenced by an earlier decision from the CJEU, which stated that personalized communication does not justify mandatory civil status collection.

The case brought by Mousse underscores the ongoing advocacy for the rights of individuals affected by gender discrimination.