(b) 1. Any retail dealer may advertise, offer to sell, or sell
cigarettes at a price made in good faith to meet the price of a
competitor who is selling the same article at cost to him as a retail
dealer. Any agent or wholesale dealer may advertise, offer to sell or
sell cigarettes at a price made in good faith to meet the price of a
competitor who is rendering the same type of services and is selling the
same article at cost to him as an agent or as a wholesale dealer, as the
case may be. The price of cigarettes advertised, offered for sale, or
sold under the exceptions specified in subdivision (a) of this section
shall not be considered the price of a competitor and shall not be used
as a basis for establishing prices below cost, nor shall the price
established at a bankruptcy sale be considered the price of a competitor
within the purview of this section.
2. In the absence of proof of the price of a competitor, the cost of
the retail dealer or the cost of the agent or wholesale dealer, as the
case may be, which is established pursuant to section four hundred
eighty-three of this article, may be deemed the price of a competitor
within the meaning of this section.
(c) In establishing the cost of cigarettes of the retail dealer, agent
or wholesale dealer, the invoice cost of said cigarettes purchase at a
forced bankruptcy, or closeout sale, or other sale outside of the
ordinary channels of trade, may not be used as a basis for justifying a
price lower than one based upon the replacement cost of the cigarettes
to the retail dealer, agent or wholesale dealer in the quantity last
purchased through the ordinary channels of trade.