diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/variables.yml b/.gitlab-ci/variables.yml
index 31d69a64357683a54c801f9da2a2f04ecb10125c..4879f331e46c93b071a97b0206a52dbd142baad4 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/variables.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/variables.yml
@@ -81,6 +81,8 @@ variables:
   RUNNER_TAG: "ivas-basop-linux"
   LOGS_BACKUP_SOURCE_DIR: ""
   LOGS_BACKUP_TARGET_DIR: ""
+  # set this to true to skip the external HRTF testcases in pytest calls
+  DISABLE_HRTF: "false"
   MANUAL_PIPELINE_TYPE:
     description: "Type for the manual pipeline run. Use 'pytest-compare' to run comparison test against reference float codec."
     value: 'default'