diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
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+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
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+variables:
+  REFERENCE_TAG: "20231128_Update_Ittiam"
+  BUILD_OUTPUT: "build_output.txt"
+  SCRIPTS_DIR: "/usr/local/scripts"
+  EXIT_CODE_NON_BE: 123
+  EXIT_CODE_FAIL: 1
+  TESTS_DIR_CODEC_BE_ON_MR: "tests/codec_be_on_mr_nonselection"
+  IVAS_PIPELINE_NAME: ''
+  MANUAL_PIPELINE_TYPE:
+    description: "Type for the manual pipeline run. Use 'pytest-mld' to run MLD test against reference float codec." # Not implemented yet, but may be good to have a manual pipeline trigger
+    value: 'default'
+    options:
+      - 'default'
+      - 'pytest-mld'
+
+
+default:
+  interruptible: true # Make all jobs by default interruptible
+
+stages:
+  - build
+  - test
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------
+# Generic script anchors
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# These can be used later on to do common tasks
+
+# Prints useful information for every job and should be used at the beginning of each job
+.print-common-info: &print-common-info
+  - |
+    echo "Printing common information for build job."
+    echo "Current job is run on commit $CI_COMMIT_SHA"
+    echo "Commit time was $CI_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP"
+    date | xargs echo "System time is"
+
+.mld-test-setup-codec: &mld-test-setup-codec 
+  - current_commit_sha=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
+
+  ### build reference binaries
+  - git checkout $REFERENCE_TAG
+  - make clean
+  - make -j
+  - mv ./IVAS_cod ./IVAS_cod_ref
+  - mv ./IVAS_dec ./IVAS_dec_ref
+
+  ### build test binaries
+  - git checkout $current_commit_sha
+  - make clean
+  - make -j
+
+  ### prepare pytest
+  # create short test vectors
+  - python3 tests/create_short_testvectors.py
+  # create references
+  - python3 -m pytest $TESTS_DIR_CODEC_BE_ON_MR -v --update_ref 1 -m create_ref -n auto
+  - python3 -m pytest $TESTS_DIR_CODEC_BE_ON_MR -v --update_ref 1 -m create_ref_part2 -n auto
+
+.update-scripts-repo: &update-scripts-repo
+  - cd $SCRIPTS_DIR
+  - git pull
+  - cd -
+  - cp -r $SCRIPTS_DIR/ci .
+  - cp -r $SCRIPTS_DIR/scripts .
+  - cp -r $SCRIPTS_DIR/tests .
+
+# TODO: this needs to be updated in case the reference is updated
+.remove-unsupported-testcases: &remove-unsupported-testcases
+  - sed -i '1629,1635d' scripts/config/self_test.prm
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------
+# Job templates
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# templates to define stages and platforms
+.test-job-linux:
+  tags:
+    - ivas-basop-linux
+
+.build-job-linux:
+  stage: build
+  timeout: "2 minutes"
+  needs: []
+  tags:
+    - ivas-basop-linux
+
+# template for test jobs on linux that need the TESTV_DIR
+.test-job-linux-needs-testv-dir:
+  extends: .test-job-linux
+  before_script:
+    - if [ ! -d "$TESTV_DIR" ]; then mkdir -p $TESTV_DIR; fi
+    - cp -r scripts/testv/* $TESTV_DIR/
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------
+# Build jobs
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# ensure that codec builds on linux
+build-codec-linux-make:
+  extends:
+    - .build-job-linux
+  script:
+    - *print-common-info
+    - make -j
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------
+# Test jobs 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ivas-pytest-mld-enc-dec:
+  extends:
+    - .test-job-linux
+  stage: test
+  needs: ["build-codec-linux-make"]
+  timeout: "30 minutes"
+  script:
+    - *print-common-info
+    - *update-scripts-repo
+    - *remove-unsupported-testcases
+    - *mld-test-setup-codec
+
+    ### run pytest
+    - exit_code=0
+    - python3 -m pytest $TESTS_DIR_CODEC_BE_ON_MR -v --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml --mld -n auto || exit_code=$?
+    - zero_errors=$(cat report-junit.xml | grep -c 'errors="0"') || true
+    
+    - python3 scripts/parse_mld.py report.html mld.csv
+
+    - if [ $zero_errors != 1 ]; then echo "Run errors encountered!"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
+    - if [ $exit_code -eq 1 ]; then echo "Differences encountered"; exit $EXIT_CODE_NON_BE; fi
+    - exit 0
+
+  allow_failure:
+    exit_codes:
+      - 123
+  artifacts:
+    name: "mld--sha-$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA--stage-$CI_JOB_STAGE--results"
+    expire_in: 1 week
+    when: always
+    paths:
+      - report-junit.xml
+      - report.html
+      - mld.csv
+    expose_as: "pytest mld results"
+    reports:
+      junit:
+        - report-junit.xml
+
+
+ivas-pytest-mld-dec:
+  extends:
+    - .test-job-linux
+  stage: test
+  needs: ["build-codec-linux-make"]
+  timeout: "30 minutes"
+  script:
+    - *print-common-info
+    - *update-scripts-repo
+    - *remove-unsupported-testcases
+    - *mld-test-setup-codec
+
+    ### run pytest
+    - exit_code=0
+    - python3 -m pytest $TESTS_DIR_CODEC_BE_ON_MR -v --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml --mld --dut_encoder_path ./IVAS_cod_ref -n auto || exit_code=$?
+    - zero_errors=$(cat report-junit.xml | grep -c 'errors="0"') || true
+
+    - python3 scripts/parse_mld.py report.html mld.csv
+
+    - if [ $zero_errors != 1 ]; then echo "Run errors encountered!"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
+    - if [ $exit_code -eq 1 ]; then echo "Differences encountered"; exit $EXIT_CODE_NON_BE; fi
+    - exit 0
+
+  allow_failure:
+    exit_codes:
+      - 123
+  artifacts:
+    name: "mld--sha-$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA--stage-$CI_JOB_STAGE--results"
+    expire_in: 1 week
+    when: always
+    paths:
+      - report-junit.xml
+      - report.html
+      - mld.csv
+    expose_as: "pytest mld results"
+    reports:
+      junit:
+        - report-junit.xml