Abstract. The paper gives new results on F-controllability of linear retarded functional differential equations. The concept of F-controllability, weaker than the approximate controllability in the state space, has been introduced by this author in 1976. In the present paper new conditions are presented which, in the case of systems with one delay, become easily verifiable criteria of F-controllability. A duality between F-controllability and observability is discussed, and several examples are given.