The study is based on a literature review as well as research into the pretrial investigation practice, using both interviews and observation. Study results are presented in two reports. The first report consists of two parts. The first provides a comprehensive introduction to French law and procedure. The second part focuses on the direction and control of police investigations. In both France and the Netherlands, general rules have been fashioned to give the public prosecutor and procurators general formal authority over police forces. Another set of regulations governs the interactions among police, public prosecutors, and examining judges during the investigations, with attention to who can decide the use of investigative and coercive powers. Because of the threat of organized crime as well as the risks involved in the use of certain investigative methods to combat organized crime, control of investigations has been enhanced and centralized at higher levels. Centralization of control exists on a much larger scale in the Netherlands than in France. In the Netherlands, control is concentrated in the Board of Procurators General; in France, control is in the Department of Justice. Formal authority of the Dutch public prosecutor over police forces is broader than the authority of the French counterpart. There are also important differences between the two countries in the roles of the public prosecutor and the examining judge. These differences will be the subject of research in the second report, which will be issued by the end of the year 2000. 120 references