A decoding apparatus for decoding a control parameter for controlling the decoding of an image, the decoding apparatus comprising: a context control unit configured to determine a context for the control parameter of a current block in the image, from among a plurality of contexts, according to a signal type of the control parameter; and an arithmetic decoding unit configured to perform arithmetic decoding on a bitstream corresponding to the current block to obtain the control parameter for the current block by using the determined context; wherein the context control unit is configured to: determine the context for a split flag by using both hierarchical depths for the left and the upper block of the current block; determine the context for a skip flag by using both of the decoded skip flags for the left and the upper block; and determine a predetermined fixed context for a merge flag without using any of the decoded merge flags for the left block and the upper block; wherein the split flag indicates whether or not the current block is partitioned into a plurality of blocks; the skip flag indicates whether or not the current block is a skipped block; and the merge flag indicates whether or not a merge mode is used for the current block; wherein the merge mode is a mode in which a motion vector and a reference picture index are copied from a neighboring block of the current block. a context control unit configured to determine a context for the control parameter of a current block in the image, from among a plurality of contexts, according to a signal type of the control parameter; and an arithmetic decoding unit configured to perform arithmetic decoding on a bitstream corresponding to the current block to obtain the control parameter for the current block by using the determined context; wherein the context control unit is configured to: determine the context for a split flag by using both hierarchical depths for the left and the upper block of the current block; determine the context for a skip flag by using both of the decoded skip flags for the left and the upper block; and determine a predetermined fixed context for a merge flag without using any of the decoded merge flags for the left block and the upper block; wherein the split flag indicates whether or not the current block is partitioned into a plurality of blocks; the skip flag indicates whether or not the current block is a skipped block; and the merge flag indicates whether or not a merge mode is used for the current block; wherein the merge mode is a mode in which a motion vector and a reference picture index are copied from a neighboring block of the current block. determine the context for a split flag by using both hierarchical depths for the left and the upper block of the current block; determine the context for a skip flag by using both of the decoded skip flags for the left and the upper block; and determine a predetermined fixed context for a merge flag without using any of the decoded merge flags for the left block and the upper block; wherein the split flag indicates whether or not the current block is partitioned into a plurality of blocks; the skip flag indicates whether or not the current block is a skipped block; and the merge flag indicates whether or not a merge mode is used for the current block; wherein the merge mode is a mode in which a motion vector and a reference picture index are copied from a neighboring block of the current block. <EOS>