Laboratory leaching tests may be used for source term determination as a basis for risk assessment for soil-groundwater pathway (leachate forecast) on contaminated sites in Germany. Interlaboratory comparisons on the evaluation of the reproducibility of column percolation tests were conducted within the framework of an integrated R + D program using three waste reference materials. The interlaboratory comparisons of column percolation tests showed good reproducibility of the results for inorganic and organic parameters as well as for the accompanying parameters. This is due to the stipulations concerning the time of contact between leachant and sample material as well as the sample placement in the columns. Different column dimensions used by the participants of the interlaboratory comparisons did not have any substantial influence on the column test results. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.