diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 0613f3af73e548d234dab617cfd006fccd67e959..b7c0915af04c8b09ce2bbc3dd5b05b78cc87719b 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1011,6 +1011,19 @@ fail-pipeline-if-in-draft:
     - echo "Your MR is still in Draft state, set it to ready to be mergable, then retrigger the pipeline."
     - exit 1
 
+# this branch runs on merges to main-pc only and will fail if the branch itself does not conform to the naming conventions
+check-naming-of-branch-for-main-pc-merges:
+  extends:
+    - .rules-merge-request-to-main-pc
+  stage: prevalidate
+  tags:
+    - ivas-basop-linux
+  script:
+    - *update-scripts-repo
+    - if [[ ! "$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TITLE" =~ \[skip[[:space:]_-]name[[:space:]_-]check\] ]] && [[ ! "$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TITLE" =~ \[CI\] ]]; then
+    -   ci/get_float_ref_branch_name.sh $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_SOURCE_BRANCH_NAME
+    - fi
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------
 # verification jobs
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -1222,6 +1235,14 @@ build-codec-linux-debugging-make:
 # Short test jobs that run in merge request pipelines
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------
 
+.set-reference-for-basop-port-branch: &set-reference-for-basop-port-branch
+  - if [ $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME = "main-pc" ] && [[ ! "$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TITLE" =~ \[skip[[:space:]_-]name[[:space:]_-]check\] ]] && [[ ! "$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TITLE" =~ \[CI\] ]]; then
+  -   *update-scripts-repo
+  # a bit awkward: write to file + standard out first so that the error message is visivle in case of failure. Then fill the variable from the file
+  -   ci/get_float_ref_branch_name.sh $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_SOURCE_BRANCH_NAME | tee tmp_ref_branch.txt
+  -   REFERENCE_BRANCH=$(cat tmp_ref_branch.txt)
+  - fi
+
 ### jobs that check for bitexactness of fx encoder and decoder
 check-be-to-target-short-enc-0db:
   extends:
@@ -1311,6 +1332,7 @@ check-regressions-short-enc-0db:
     - .rules-mr-to-main-or-main-pc
     - .test-job-linux
   before_script:
+    - *set-reference-for-basop-port-branch
     - USE_LTV=0
     - DUT_DECODER_PATH=./IVAS_dec_ref
     - TEST_SUITE="$SHORT_TEST_SUITE_ENCODER"
@@ -1327,6 +1349,7 @@ check-regressions-short-enc-+10db:
     - .rules-mr-to-main-or-main-pc
     - .test-job-linux
   before_script:
+    - *set-reference-for-basop-port-branch
     - USE_LTV=0
     - DUT_DECODER_PATH=./IVAS_dec_ref
     - TEST_SUITE="$SHORT_TEST_SUITE_ENCODER"
@@ -1359,6 +1382,7 @@ check-regressions-short-dec-0db:
     - .rules-mr-to-main-or-main-pc
     - .test-job-linux
   before_script:
+    - *set-reference-for-basop-port-branch
     - USE_LTV=0
     - DUT_ENCODER_PATH=./IVAS_cod_ref
     - TEST_SUITE="$SHORT_TEST_SUITE"
@@ -1375,6 +1399,7 @@ check-regressions-short-dec-+10db:
     - .rules-mr-to-main-or-main-pc
     - .test-job-linux
   before_script:
+    - *set-reference-for-basop-port-branch
     - USE_LTV=0
     - DUT_ENCODER_PATH=./IVAS_cod_ref
     - TEST_SUITE="$SHORT_TEST_SUITE"
@@ -1408,6 +1433,7 @@ ivas-pytest-compare_to_ref-short-enc:
     - .rules-pytest-to-ref-short
     - .test-job-linux
   before_script:
+    - *set-reference-for-basop-port-branch
     - USE_LTV=0
     - ENCODER_TEST="true"
     - DUT_DECODER_PATH=./$REF_DECODER_PATH
@@ -1420,6 +1446,7 @@ ivas-pytest-compare_to_ref-short-enc-lev-10:
     - .rules-pytest-to-ref-short
     - .test-job-linux
   before_script:
+    - *set-reference-for-basop-port-branch
     - USE_LTV=0
     - ENCODER_TEST="true"
     - DUT_DECODER_PATH=./$REF_DECODER_PATH
@@ -1432,6 +1459,7 @@ ivas-pytest-compare_to_ref-short-enc-lev+10:
     - .rules-pytest-to-ref-short
     - .test-job-linux
   before_script:
+    - *set-reference-for-basop-port-branch
     - USE_LTV=0
     - ENCODER_TEST="true"
     - DUT_DECODER_PATH=./$REF_DECODER_PATH