diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index fbdfd2e66be36b383c6102e336b2ba69abc8d523..9d3a624b20d69b93b5e81c319eff9663eaa830a6 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -175,8 +175,8 @@ stages:
 .merge-request-comparison-check: &merge-request-comparison-check
   - echo "--------------- Running merge-request-comparison-check anchor ---------------"
   - if [ $zero_errors != 1 ]; then echo "Run errors encountered!"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
-  - if [ $exit_code -eq 1 ] && [ $non_be_flag == 0 ]; then echo "Non-bitexact cases without non-BE tag encountered!"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
-  - if [ $exit_code -eq 1 ] && [ $non_be_flag != 0 ]; then echo "Non-bitexact cases with non-BE tag encountered"; exit $EXIT_CODE_NON_BE; fi
+  - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ] && [ $non_be_flag == 0 ]; then echo "Non-bitexact cases without non-BE tag encountered!"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
+  - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ] && [ $non_be_flag != 0 ]; then echo "Non-bitexact cases with non-BE tag encountered"; exit $EXIT_CODE_NON_BE; fi
   - exit 0
 
 .update-ltv-repo: &update-ltv-repo
@@ -673,9 +673,9 @@ pytest-compare-20ms-and-5ms-rendering:
     - if [ $zero_errors5 != 1 ]; then echo "run error in with 5ms rendering encountered"; zero_errors=0 ; fi
     - if [ $zero_errors10 != 1 ]; then echo "run error in with 10ms rendering encountered"; zero_errors=0 ; fi
     - if [ $zero_errors != 1 ]; then exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
-    - if [ $exit_code5 -eq 1 ]; then echo "Non-bitexact cases encountered with 5ms rendering!"; exit_code=1; fi
-    - if [ $exit_code10 -eq 1 ]; then echo "Non-bitexact cases encountered with 10ms rendering!"; exit_code=1; fi
-    - if [ $exit_code -eq 1 ]; then exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
+    - if [ $exit_code5 -ne 0 ]; then echo "Non-bitexact cases encountered with 5ms rendering!"; exit_code=1; fi
+    - if [ $exit_code10 -ne 0 ]; then echo "Non-bitexact cases encountered with 10ms rendering!"; exit_code=1; fi
+    - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
   artifacts:
     name: "mr-$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID--sha-$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA--stage-$CI_JOB_STAGE--results"
     expire_in: 1 week
@@ -1367,9 +1367,9 @@ codec-comparison-on-main-push:
     ### run pytest
     - exit_code=0
     - python3 -m pytest $TESTS_DIR_CODEC_BE_ON_MR -v --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml --testcase_timeout=$testcase_timeout || exit_code=$?
-    - if [ $exit_code -eq 1 ] && [ $non_be_flag == 0 ]; then echo "pytest run had failures and non-BE flag not present"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
+    - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ] && [ $non_be_flag == 0 ]; then echo "pytest run had failures and non-BE flag not present"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
     - zero_errors=$(cat report-junit.xml | grep -c 'errors="0"') || true
-    - if [ $exit_code -eq 1 ] && [ $zero_errors == 1 ]; then echo "pytest run had failures, but no errors and non-BE flag present"; exit $EXIT_CODE_NON_BE; fi
+    - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ] && [ $zero_errors == 1 ]; then echo "pytest run had failures, but no errors and non-BE flag present"; exit $EXIT_CODE_NON_BE; fi
     - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then echo "pytest run had errors"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi;
   allow_failure:
     exit_codes:
@@ -1593,7 +1593,7 @@ ivas-conformance-linux:
     - genhtml coverage.info -o coverage -t "Coverage on main @ $commit_sha"
 
     # Check for failures
-    - if [ $exit_code -eq 1 ]; then echo "Test failures encountered"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
+    - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then echo "Test failures encountered"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
     
   artifacts:
     name: "ivas-conformance-linux-$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA"
@@ -1670,7 +1670,7 @@ test-long-self-test:
     - zero_errors=$(cat report-junit-ltv.xml | grep -c 'errors="0"') || true
 
     - if [ $zero_errors != 1 ]; then echo "Run errors encountered!"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
-    - if [ $exit_code -eq 1 ]; then echo "Non-bitexact cases encountered!"; exit $EXIT_CODE_NON_BE; fi
+    - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then echo "Non-bitexact cases encountered!"; exit $EXIT_CODE_NON_BE; fi
     - exit 0
 
 
@@ -1735,7 +1735,7 @@ test-branch-vs-input-passthrough:
     - zero_errors=$(cat report-junit.xml | grep -c 'errors="0"') || true
     - python3 scripts/parse_xml_report.py report-junit.xml report.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
+    - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then echo "Differences encountered."; exit $EXIT_CODE_NON_BE; fi
     - exit 0
 
   artifacts: