(a) The surety on bonds maintained under the regulations in this part shall be a surety company which is currently approved by the United States Treasury Department for bonds executed to the United States; and which has not failed or refused to satisfy its legal obligations under bonds issued under said regulations.

(b) Any packer, market agency, or dealer required to maintain a surety bond under these regulations may elect to maintain, in whole or partial substitution for such surety bond, a bond equivalent as provided below. The total amount of any such surety bond, equivalent, or combination thereof, must be the total amount of the surety bond otherwise required under these regulations. Any such bond equivalent must be in the form of:

(1) A trust fund agreement governing funds actually deposited or invested in fully negotiable obligations of the United States or Federally-insured deposits or accounts in the name of and readily convertible to currency by a trustee as provided in §201.32, or

(2) A trust agreement governing funds which may be drawn by a trustee as provided in §201.32, under one or more irrevocable, transferrable, standby letters of credit, issued by a Federally-insured bank or institution and physically received and retained by such trustee.

(c) The provisions of §§201.27 through 201.34 shall be applicable to the trust fund agreements, trust agreements and letters of credit authorized in paragraph (b) of this section.

(d) Bonds, trust fund agreements, letters of credit and trust agreements shall be filed on forms approved by the Administrator.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 0580-0015)

[56 FR 2128, Jan. 22, 1991, as amended at 61 FR 36279, July 10, 1996; 62 FR 11759, Mar. 13, 1997; 68 FR 75388, Dec. 31, 2003]