(a) Compliance by any handler with the requirement of § 993.57 for withholding reserve prunes may be temporarily deferred to any date desired by the handler, but not later than November 15 of the crop year, upon the execution and delivery by such handler to the committee of a written undertaking that on or prior to the desired date he will have fully satisfied his holding requirement. Such undertaking shall be secured by a bond or bonds to be filed with and acceptable to the committee in the amount or amounts specified, conditioned upon full compliance with such undertaking.

(b)(1) Each bond shall be provided by and at the handler's expense, with a surety or sureties acceptable to the committee, and shall be in an amount computed by multiplying the pounds of natural condition prunes for which deferment is desired by the bonding rate. Such bonding rate shall be established by the committee at a level sufficient to achieve the objectives of this part.

(2) In case a handler defaults in meeting his deferred withholding requirement, any funds collected by the committee from the bonding company through such default shall be used by the committee to purchase from handlers a quantity of natural condition prunes, up to but not exceeding the quantity on which default occurred. Purchases shall be made from prunes with respect to which the reserve obligation has been met, and shall be of grades, varieties, or sizes and in such containers as the committee specifies in consideration of available reserve prune outlets. Purchases shall be at prices determined to be appropriate by the committee and if more prunes are offered than required by the committee, it shall make the purchases from various handlers as nearly as practicable in proportion to the quantity of their respective offerings at the same price. The committee shall dispose of the prunes acquired as soon as practicable in the most favorable reserve prune outlets and shall deposit the proceeds from such sales, less committee expenses in connection with such transaction, with reserve pool funds for distribution to equity holders.

(3) If for any reason the committee is unable to purchase a quantity of prunes as large as the quantity of reserve prunes in default by the handler, any remaining balance of funds received because of the default less expenses of the committee, shall be deposited with reserve pool funds for distribution to equity holders.

(c) A handler who has defaulted on his bond shall be credited on his reserve obligation with, and his holding requirement reduced by, that quantity of prunes represented by the sums collected but not more than the extent of his default.