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Advocacy group alleges EU user data unlawfully sent to

China

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Noyb's first complaint against Chinese firms

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China says it does not breach local laws, protects data

(Updates Jan. 16 story to add Chinese foreign ministry comment

in paragraphs 6-7)

By Supantha Mukherjee and Foo Yun Chee

STOCKHOLM/BRUSSELS, Jan 17 (Reuters) - TikTok, Shein,

Xiaomi ( XIACF ) and three other Chinese companies were named in

a privacy complaint filed on Thursday by Austrian advocacy group

Noyb, which alleged the firms were unlawfully sending European

Union user data to China.

Noyb is known for filing complaints against American

companies such as Apple ( AAPL ), Alphabet and Meta

, leading to several investigations and billions of

dollars in fines.

Vienna-based Noyb (None Of Your Business) said this was its

first complaint against Chinese firms.

Noyb has filed six complaints in Greece, Netherlands,

Belgium, Italy and Austria seeking to suspend data transfers to

China and is calling for fines that can reach up to 4% of a

firm's global revenue.

Noyb said Alibaba's ( BABA ) e-commerce site AliExpress,

retailer Shein, TikTok and phone maker Xiaomi ( XIACF ) admit to sending

Europeans' personal data to China, citing transparency reports

and other documents, while retailer Temu and Tencent's ( TCTZF )

messenger app WeChat transfer data to undisclosed "third

countries", likely China.

The Chinese government "has never and will never" ask

enterprises or individuals to collect or provide data

information and intelligence located in foreign countries for

the Chinese government in a manner that violates local laws, its

foreign ministry said on Friday.

Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular news

briefing that China attaches great importance to and protects

data privacy and security in accordance with the law.

A Xiaomi ( XIACF ) spokesperson said the company was examining the

allegations and would fully cooperate with authorities to

resolve the matter if they approach the company due to this

complaint.

Other companies did not immediately respond to requests for

comment.

Under the European Union's General Data Protection

Regulation (GDPR) privacy regime, data transfers outside the EU

are only allowed if the destination country doesn't undermine

the protection of data.

"Given that China is an authoritarian surveillance state, it

is crystal clear that China doesn't offer the same level of data

protection as the EU," said Kleanthi Sardeli, a data protection

lawyer at Noyb. "Transferring Europeans' personal data is

clearly unlawful - and must be terminated immediately."

Chinese companies, notably ByteDance-owned TikTok, have been

facing off with regulators in various countries. TikTok is

planning to shut its app for U.S. users from Sunday, when a

federal ban on the social media app is due to come into effect.

The European Commission is also investigating TikTok over

its suspected failure to limit election interference, notably in

the Romanian presidential vote in November.