a. Any retailer may advertise, offer to sell, or sell cigarettes and tobacco products 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 retailer. Any wholesaler may advertise, offer to sell, or sell cigarettes and tobacco products at a price made in good faith to meet the price of a competitor who is rendering the same type of service and is selling the same article at cost to him as a wholesaler. The price of cigarettes and tobacco products advertised, offered for sale, or sold under the exceptions specified in Section 9¹ 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 bankrupt sale be considered the price of a competitor within the purview of this Section.

b. In the absence of proof of the “price of a competitor”, under this Section, the “lowest cost to the retailer”, or the “lowest cost to the wholesaler”, as the case may be determined by any “cost survey”, made pursuant to Section 14 of this Act,² may be deemed the “price of a competitor” within the meaning of this Section.