The image decoding method according to the present invention comprises the steps of: determining the availability of a block adjacent to a current block; configuring a merge candidate list for the current block on the basis of the result of the determined availability; and performing motion compensation for the current block on the basis of the merge candidate list, wherein the step of determining availability comprises the steps of inducing block availability information on the adjacent block and inducing the availability of motion information on the adjacent block, and the step of determining the availability of the adjacent block is such that when there is more than one adjacent block, the availability of adjacent blocks can be determined in accordance with a predetermined order restriction.