Gender Identity Not Required for Online Train Ticket Purchase
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled in a case published on Thursday that a person’s gender identity is not required for the online purchase of train tickets in the EU. The court granted the claim of the French association Mousse.
The association had complained against the French railway company SNCF Connect, which systematically required its customers to provide a greeting (“Mr.” or “Ms.”) when buying tickets online. Mousse had argued to the French data protection authority (CNIL) that this practice was particularly problematic in light of the principle of data minimization, as it was not a necessary data entry for the purchase of a ticket. After the authority initially rejected the complaint, the ECJ now sides with the association and grants the claim.
The decision was justified by the fact that the data collected in accordance with the principle of data minimization must be appropriate, significant, and limited to what is necessary for the purposes of the processing. Additionally, the company can decide to communicate with its customers using general and inclusive polite forms.