This study focuses on the prices for laboratory testing services and testing capacity in nine of the major European chemicals producing countries. The purpose is to bridge the existing gap of a representative study on test prices and the available testing capacity. At the core are seventy-six test categories, in particular toxicological and ecotoxicological tests as required by REACH, the EU Chemicals Policy Review. The price and capacity information was gathered by a survey of twenty-eight independent and corporate laboratories in the second half of 2004. The survey aimed at finding out minimum, average and maximum estimates of costs/prices and the available average and maximum testing capacities. The data exploration has shown a considerable variability in the prices for single tests. For reasons of completeness an overview of the testing cost for a registration according to the four work packages of REACH is provided. The most difficult issue was the estimation of average and maximum testing capacities. Surprisingly the large laboratories supply with 96.5% the vast amount of the total capacity available for testing chemicals in the nine European countries the survey has covered. A complete set of tables and figures representing detailed price and capacity information is available upon e-mail request to the author.