Efforts to secure a new data transfer pact between the US and the European Union failed to meet a January 31 deadline set by national privacy regulators in the 28-member-state bloc.

Data watchdogs in the EU will meet tomorrow to finalise their own views on how data can be transferred from one side of the Atlantic to another, following a European Court of Justice ruling in October last year, which deemed the EU-US Safe Harbour pact invalid.

It's expected that the national data authorities will publish their own judgment on Wednesday.

However, according to the New York Times, that now looks likely to happen without a tentative agreement in place. The newspaper—citing sources on both sides of the talks—reported that the US and EU remained heavily divided on a number of key details, including how European netizens would be safeguarded from surveillance by America's G-men.

It seems, though, that—after three months of talks—the best anyone can now hope for is a fudged agreement.