ESYD and laboratory accreditation in Greece: how it is granted and how to check it

In Greece, laboratory accreditation is granted by a single body: the Hellenic Accreditation System (ESYD), which operates as a non-profit legal entity of private law under Law 4468/2017 ^[1]. A laboratory does not "become accredited" in general. It applies for specific tests, goes through a document review and an on-site assessment, receives a decision and a certificate with a scope annex, and is then kept under surveillance and reassessed. From the buyer's side, you check the outcome of that whole process with one piece of information: the certificate number, which can be looked up in ESYD's public register ^[4].

Our published article on ISO/IEC 17025 explains what accreditation means as a concept. This one is about the Greek procedure: who does what, in what order, and how you get from a logo on a test report to the specific line of the scope that does or does not cover the test you paid for.

ESYD's role as the national accreditation body

The architecture is European. Regulation (EC) 765/2008 requires every Member State to appoint a single national accreditation body, which performs accreditation as a public authority activity, does not seek profit and does not compete with the bodies it assesses ^[2]. The body is itself subject to peer evaluation. In Greece that role was given to ESYD by Law 4468/2017 ^[1].

In practice this means two things for a buyer. First, there is no second Greek body to compare against: if a laboratory claims accreditation in Greece, the record of it is in ESYD's register or it is nowhere. Second, private companies issuing "international accreditation certificates" are not performing accreditation in the legal sense; they may certify management systems, but that is a different act with different content.

How a laboratory becomes accredited: the steps

The general steps are set by ISO/IEC 17011, the standard under which accreditation bodies operate ^[5], and made specific in ESYD's Accreditation Regulation (ESYD KAD), the document every applicant is bound by ^[8]. The sequence is:

1. Application for a specific scope: the laboratory states which tests, on which materials, by which methods and over which range it wants covered ^[5].
2. Document review: the management system, procedures and method validation or verification files are examined ^{[5] [7]}.
3. On-site assessment: a team of assessors and technical experts witnesses the tests being performed and examines records, equipment and staff ^[5].
4. Findings and corrective action: nonconformities are recorded, and the laboratory must close them with evidence before a decision is taken ^[8].
5. Decision and certificate: accreditation is granted for the scope that was demonstrated, not necessarily everything applied for, with a certificate and a scope annex ^[5].
6. Surveillance and reassessment: the accreditation is monitored periodically and may be extended, reduced, suspended or withdrawn ^[8].

Step five explains why the scope is often narrower than the application. Whatever was not demonstrated during assessment stays out. ISO/IEC 17025 requires a laboratory to use appropriate methods, validated where they are not standard, equipment with traceable calibration, and to monitor the validity of its results, usually by taking part in interlaboratory comparisons ^[7]. If the validation file covers one material and not another, only the first will appear in the scope. Anyone discussing a new test with a laboratory saves time by knowing the basics of method validation in a small laboratory.

What an accredited scope means, and why it is narrower than it looks

The scope is a table. Each line combines four elements, and your test is covered only if all four match. A food laboratory with accredited liquid chromatography for preservatives in soft drinks is an accredited laboratory with accredited liquid chromatography. It is not, however, accredited for the purity of a lyophilised synthetic peptide, and the report it issues on one will be lawful but outside scope ^[7].

How to verify an accreditation in practice

The check takes less time than a phone call to the laboratory, and it does not depend on what you are told. ESYD publishes a register of accredited laboratories that can be searched by certificate number or by name ^[4]. Work in this order:

1. Find the accreditation symbol on the report together with the certificate number; a symbol without a number cannot be verified ^[6].
2. Look the number up in ESYD's register and confirm that the laboratory's name and address match the report ^[4].
3. Open the current scope annex and find the line matching the material, property, method and range of your test.
4. Check that the report date falls within the period of validity and that the accreditation was not suspended or reduced on that day ^[8].
5. Keep a copy of the scope, dated with the day you downloaded it, alongside the report; scopes change.

If you cannot find a matching line, that does not necessarily mean the result is wrong. It means the result does not rest on the accreditation and has to be judged on other evidence: the method, the data and its consistency with other measurements.

ILAC, EA and cross-border recognition

An ESYD accreditation carries weight outside Greece because ESYD itself is assessed. According to a decision of the EA Multilateral Agreement Council in March 2025, ESYD remains an EA MLA signatory for, among other fields, calibration and testing to EN ISO/IEC 17025, with its next full re-evaluation due in May 2027 ^[3]. Regulation 765/2008 provides that national bodies which pass peer evaluation recognise one another's certificates ^[2].

The same applies in reverse. When the report you received comes from a laboratory in another country, the check is made in the register of that country's national accreditation body, not ESYD's. The logic is identical: certificate number, current scope, a matching line, a date inside the period of validity.

What accreditation does not cover

• The identity of the sample: the laboratory measures what it was sent, not what it was told it was sent.
• The quality of a product or of a batch as a whole: accreditation concerns measurements, never products ^[7].
• Tests outside scope, even if performed in the same laboratory on the same day ^[6].
• Opinions and interpretations in the report, such as "high quality", which are not measured results ^[7].
• The lawfulness of supplying or using a material, which is decided by other authorities under other legislation.

Reading a Greek test report

A Greek test report from an accredited laboratory usually carries the ESYD symbol with the laboratory's certificate number in the header. ILAC-P8 requires an accredited body not to create, through its marking or wording, the impression that activities are covered when they are not ^[6]. That is why a proper report containing non-accredited results as well marks them explicitly, often with a note beside the line. If it does not, ask in writing which lines are covered.

• Laboratory details and certificate number in the header, matching the register ^[4].
• A unique report number and page numbering, so it is clear the report is complete ^[7].
• Sample description and code as the laboratory recorded them on receipt.
• The method for each result, with a code that corresponds to a line in the scope.
• A clear distinction between accredited and non-accredited results, and any that were subcontracted ^[6].
• Measurement uncertainty and a decision rule wherever the report states conformity with a specification ^[7].

The last step is taken not on the report but in your own records. The laboratory's sample code has to be linked to the batch number on the label and on the delivery note. Only the chain-of-custody record for an analytical sample keeps that link intact, and no accreditation replaces it.