diff --git a/source/Lib/CommonLib/TypeDef.h b/source/Lib/CommonLib/TypeDef.h
index 9dc529bf5cbdc3a09a88a64f36ee10e36d74a898..e5153acdc631376e434e8c8d06cdf0709559f554 100644
--- a/source/Lib/CommonLib/TypeDef.h
+++ b/source/Lib/CommonLib/TypeDef.h
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@
 
 #define JVET_O0061_MV_THR_DEBLOCKING                      1 // a deblocking mv threshold of half pel
 
+#define JVET_O0220_METHOD1_SUBBLK_FLAG_PARSING            1 // JVET-O0220 method-1: Parse merge_subblock_flag conditioned on MaxNumSubblockMergeCand
+
 #define JVET_O0046_DQ_SIGNALLING                          1 // JVET-O0046: Move delta-QP earlier for 64x64 VPDU processing, applied to CUs >64x64 only
 
 #define JVET_O0616_400_CHROMA_SUPPORT                     1 // JVET-O0616: Various chroma format support in VVC
diff --git a/source/Lib/DecoderLib/CABACReader.cpp b/source/Lib/DecoderLib/CABACReader.cpp
index 9aaedbdf3ac373ceafd629b095656120b60c0037..7e6fd7e5a87716fed81a4e73a31d60fec5fe705d 100644
--- a/source/Lib/DecoderLib/CABACReader.cpp
+++ b/source/Lib/DecoderLib/CABACReader.cpp
@@ -1701,7 +1701,11 @@ void CABACReader::subblock_merge_flag( CodingUnit& cu )
     return;
   }
 
+#if JVET_O0220_METHOD1_SUBBLK_FLAG_PARSING
+  if ( !cu.cs->slice->isIntra() && (cu.slice->getMaxNumAffineMergeCand() > 0) && cu.lumaSize().width >= 8 && cu.lumaSize().height >= 8 )
+#else
   if ( !cu.cs->slice->isIntra() && (cu.cs->sps->getUseAffine() || cu.cs->sps->getSBTMVPEnabledFlag()) && cu.lumaSize().width >= 8 && cu.lumaSize().height >= 8 )
+#endif
   {
     RExt__DECODER_DEBUG_BIT_STATISTICS_CREATE_SET( STATS__CABAC_BITS__AFFINE_FLAG );
 
diff --git a/source/Lib/EncoderLib/CABACWriter.cpp b/source/Lib/EncoderLib/CABACWriter.cpp
index e1c54cfe2e21c48899a7a2fd560e93db8d84518a..e27ef8e22a08bca20b8e5d09466093e7f6bfdc98 100644
--- a/source/Lib/EncoderLib/CABACWriter.cpp
+++ b/source/Lib/EncoderLib/CABACWriter.cpp
@@ -1584,7 +1584,11 @@ void CABACWriter::subblock_merge_flag( const CodingUnit& cu )
     return;
   }
 
+#if JVET_O0220_METHOD1_SUBBLK_FLAG_PARSING
+  if ( !cu.cs->slice->isIntra() && (cu.slice->getMaxNumAffineMergeCand() > 0) && cu.lumaSize().width >= 8 && cu.lumaSize().height >= 8 )
+#else
   if ( !cu.cs->slice->isIntra() && (cu.cs->sps->getUseAffine() || cu.cs->sps->getSBTMVPEnabledFlag()) && cu.lumaSize().width >= 8 && cu.lumaSize().height >= 8 )
+#endif
   {
     unsigned ctxId = DeriveCtx::CtxAffineFlag( cu );
 #if JVET_O0500_SEP_CTX_AFFINE_SUBBLOCK_MRG