Abstract: A control circuit and method for managing multicast packets is implemented in a network switch to improve the efficiency of bandwidth utilization. The control circuit comprises an internal control buffer which is subdivided into multiple storage sections. Each storage section consists of buffer-control records including valid bit, counter value, control pointer, and tag number. When the tag number of a coming multicast packet indicates that the internal control buffer is full, the control data of the coming multicast packet will be copied to an external control memory. On the other hand, the control data of the coming multicast packet will be directly stored in the control buffer if otherwise. After each multicast packet transmission, the control data in the control buffer can be accessed and updated. Consequently, the traffic between the network switch and the external memories can be reduced to the minimum, thereby to improve the efficiency of the bandwidth utilization.