A decoding method for Versatile Video Coding, VVC, performed by a decoding apparatus, the method comprising: determining a prediction mode of a current block based on information on the prediction mode obtained from a bitstream; configuring a merge candidate list based on the prediction mode; deriving motion information of the current block based on the merge candidate list; and generating prediction samples of the current block based on the motion information, wherein the bitstream includes a combined inter-picture merge and intra-picture prediction, CIIP, enabled flag representing whether the CIIP is enabled, a general merge flag representing whether inter prediction parameters for a current block are inferred from a neighboring inter-predicted partition, and a skip flag representing whether a skip mode is applied to the current block, and wherein the determining includes: obtaining a regular merge flag from the bitstream if all of the following conditions are true: a value of the CIIP enabled flag being equal to 1, a value of the general merge flag being equal to 1, a value of the skip flag being equal to 0, a product of a height of the current block and a width of the current block being greater than or equal to 64, the height of the current block being smaller than 128, and the width of the current block being smaller than 128, wherein the regular merge flag represents whether the merge mode is applied to the current block, and determining a regular merge mode as the prediction mode of the current block when a value of the regular merge flag is equal to 1. determining a prediction mode of a current block based on information on the prediction mode obtained from a bitstream; configuring a merge candidate list based on the prediction mode; deriving motion information of the current block based on the merge candidate list; and generating prediction samples of the current block based on the motion information, wherein the bitstream includes a combined inter-picture merge and intra-picture prediction, CIIP, enabled flag representing whether the CIIP is enabled, a general merge flag representing whether inter prediction parameters for a current block are inferred from a neighboring inter-predicted partition, and a skip flag representing whether a skip mode is applied to the current block, and wherein the determining includes: obtaining a regular merge flag from the bitstream if all of the following conditions are true: a value of the CIIP enabled flag being equal to 1, a value of the general merge flag being equal to 1, a value of the skip flag being equal to 0, a product of a height of the current block and a width of the current block being greater than or equal to 64, the height of the current block being smaller than 128, and the width of the current block being smaller than 128, wherein the regular merge flag represents whether the merge mode is applied to the current block, and determining a regular merge mode as the prediction mode of the current block when a value of the regular merge flag is equal to 1. obtaining a regular merge flag from the bitstream if all of the following conditions are true: a value of the CIIP enabled flag being equal to 1, a value of the general merge flag being equal to 1, a value of the skip flag being equal to 0, a product of a height of the current block and a width of the current block being greater than or equal to 64, the height of the current block being smaller than 128, and the width of the current block being smaller than 128, wherein the regular merge flag represents whether the merge mode is applied to the current block, and determining a regular merge mode as the prediction mode of the current block when a value of the regular merge flag is equal to 1. <EOS>