Many interlaboratory studies have been made in the carbon-14 community at irregular intervals over the past 10 years. At times, the results from these studies have been contentious, mostly because of the lack of consistency in their findings. The importance of regular exercises has become particularly acute due to the large number of operating laboratories and the diversity of their methodologies. Hence, the authors briefly review the studies that have been made in the 1980s, focusing on those in which their laboratories participated. These include the ¹⁴C Interlaboratory Comparison in the UK (Otlet et al. 1980), the International Comparison (ISG 1982, 1983), and the first two parts of the current International Collaborative Program (Scott et al. 1989a, b). The development of each study, its findings and shortcomings, are highlighted in order to assess the concordance of the conclusions.