diff --git a/.commitlintrc.yaml b/.commitlintrc.yaml
index d0b3278..67b733c 100644
--- a/.commitlintrc.yaml
+++ b/.commitlintrc.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 rules:
   body-case: [2, always, sentence-case]
-  body-full-stop: [2, always]
+  body-full-stop: [1, always]
   body-leading-blank: [2, always]
   body-max-line-length: [2, always, 72]
   footer-leading-blank: [2, always]
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index c0ee972..1cab7df 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Check commit message compliance of the pull request
         if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
         run: |
-          ./run-tests.sh --check-commitlint ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}~${{ github.event.pull_request.commits }} ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }} ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
+          ./run-tests.sh --check-commitlint ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }} ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }} ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
 
   lint-shellcheck:
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
diff --git a/run-tests.sh b/run-tests.sh
index 72295ea..e545128 100755
--- a/run-tests.sh
+++ b/run-tests.sh
@@ -16,15 +16,28 @@ check_commitlint () {
     npx commitlint --from="$from" --to="$to"
     found=0
     while IFS= read -r line; do
-        if echo "$line" | grep -qP "\(\#$pr\)$"; then
-            true
-        elif echo "$line" | grep -qP "^chore\(.*\): release"; then
-            true
-        else
-            echo "✖   Headline does not end by '(#$pr)' PR number: $line"
+        commit_hash=$(echo "$line" | cut -d ' ' -f 1)
+        commit_title=$(echo "$line" | cut -d ' ' -f 2-)
+        commit_number_of_parents=$(git rev-list --parents "$commit_hash" -n1 | awk '{print NF-1}')
+        # (i) skip checking release commits generated by Release Please
+        if [ "$commit_number_of_parents" -le 1 ] && echo "$commit_title" | grep -qP "^chore\(.*\): release"; then
+            continue
+        fi
+        # (ii) check presence of PR number
+        if ! echo "$commit_title" | grep -qP "\(\#$pr\)$"; then
+            echo "✖   Headline does not end by '(#$pr)' PR number: $commit_title"
             found=1
         fi
-    done < <(git log "$from..$to" --format="%s")
+        # (iii) check absence of merge commits in feature branches
+        if [ "$commit_number_of_parents" -gt 1 ]; then
+            if echo "$commit_title" | grep -qP "^chore\(.*\): merge "; then
+                break  # skip checking maint-to-master merge commits
+            else
+                echo "✖   Merge commits are not allowed in feature branches: $commit_title"
+                found=1
+            fi
+        fi
+    done < <(git log "$from..$to" --format="%H %s")
     if [ $found -gt 0 ]; then
         exit 1
     fi