diff --git a/council/utils/data_object.py b/council/utils/data_object.py
index 228b712d..8497b7d3 100644
--- a/council/utils/data_object.py
+++ b/council/utils/data_object.py
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import abc
-from typing import Any, Dict, Generic, Optional, Type, TypeVar
+from typing import Any, Dict, Generic, List, Optional, Type, TypeVar, Union
 
 import yaml
 from typing_extensions import Self
 
+Label = Optional[Union[str, List[str]]]
+
 
 class DataObjectMetadata:
     def __init__(self, name: str, labels: Dict[str, Any], description: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
@@ -21,11 +23,26 @@ def get_label_value(self, label: str) -> Optional[Any]:
             return self.labels[label]
         return None
 
-    def is_matching_labels(self, labels: Dict[str, Any]) -> bool:
-        for label in labels:
-            value = self.get_label_value(label)
-            if value != labels[label]:
+    def is_matching_labels(self, labels: Dict[str, Label]) -> bool:
+        """
+        Returns true if the test_case_object satisfies any of the following:
+            - if value_to_check is None, check if the label exists
+            - exact match of label-value pair
+            - when a label maps to a list, check if value_to_check is in the list of values for that label
+        """
+        for label, value_to_check in labels.items():
+            if not self.has_label(label):
                 return False
+
+            value = self.get_label_value(label)
+            if value_to_check is not None:
+                if type(value_to_check) is not type(value):
+                    return False
+                elif isinstance(value_to_check, str) and isinstance(value, str) and value_to_check != value:
+                    return False
+                elif isinstance(value_to_check, list) and isinstance(value, list):
+                    if not all(v in value for v in value_to_check):
+                        return False
         return True
 
     def to_dict(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
diff --git a/tests/unit/utils/test_data_object.py b/tests/unit/utils/test_data_object.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2aa614e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/utils/test_data_object.py
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import unittest
+
+from council.utils.data_object import DataObjectMetadata
+
+
+class TestCodeDataObject(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_code_data_object(self):
+        labels = {"test": "value1", "test2": "value2", "test_array": ["value31", "value32", "value33"]}
+        metadata = DataObjectMetadata("test", labels=labels)
+        self.assertEqual(metadata.labels, labels.copy())
+        self.assertTrue(metadata.has_label("test"))
+
+        self.assertTrue(metadata.is_matching_labels(labels={"test": "value1"}))
+        self.assertTrue(metadata.is_matching_labels(labels={"test": "value1", "test2": "value2", "test_array": None}))
+        self.assertTrue(metadata.is_matching_labels(labels={"test": None}))
+        self.assertTrue(metadata.is_matching_labels(labels={"test_array": None}))
+        self.assertTrue(metadata.is_matching_labels(labels={"test_array": ["value31", "value33"]}))
+
+        self.assertFalse(metadata.is_matching_labels(labels={"test": "value2"}))
+        self.assertFalse(metadata.is_matching_labels(labels={"key_not_exist": None}))
+        self.assertFalse(metadata.is_matching_labels(labels={"key_not_exist": "value2"}))
+        self.assertFalse(metadata.is_matching_labels(labels={"test_array": "value32"}))
+        self.assertFalse(metadata.is_matching_labels(labels={"test_array": ["value31", "value33", "value34"]}))