The current contribution proposes an alternative way of coding the coded block flags for Cb and Cr blocks. Based on the statistical observation, a first flag (tu_cbf_cb_or_cr) indicating whether Cb or Cr blocks have residual is signalled. If the flag tu_cbf_cb_or_cr is true then a second flag (tu_joint_cbcr_residual) is signalled, which when true indicates that both Cb and Cr blocks have residual and also the condition “cb_residual = -cr_residual” is valid. If tu_joint_cbcr_residual flag is false, then a third flag (tu_cbf_cb_and_cr) indicating that both Cb and Cr blocks have residual is signalled. If the flag tu_cbf_cb_and_cr is false then (tu_cbf_cb) is signalled which when true indicates tu_cbf_cb is true (Cb has residual) and when false indicates tu_cbf_cr is true (Cr has residual).