diff --git a/source/Lib/CommonLib/TypeDef.h b/source/Lib/CommonLib/TypeDef.h
index aad7a48614aeebe5730ad67e7201d689547a654d..80f02d6acabd0f9e3f1a3cfe352486f8a7854f38 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 efd90714512fd6e8c1a0f559f8154cb71e8c2a09..5607110abe84387965c78cabdf2b90b84059886a 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 12e29f16dfd6bec92e1ac1a009e4c10f05c33cf1..2dc64ffba5d7ca3e1e3b49487dd24bc29c98bb90 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