The General Chemical State Laboratory: when and how it tests private samples

Can a private party or small lab request an analysis from the state laboratory, and what does it cost?

Yes, on the text of decision 30/002/000/6484/2024, the General Chemical State Laboratory (GChK, in Greek ΓΧΚ) can serve an analysis request from a natural person or a business, against a fee set in annexes to the decision ^[1]. It is not obliged to accept it, though: the decision leaves it to the GChK to accept or reject a request, taking its control work into account ^[1].

What we cannot say is whether the GChK has ever analysed a synthetic peptide for a private party, or what it would cost. The prices sit in the annexes, organised by product category, and we have not verified that peptide analysis is provided for there. This article describes what the decision says and which questions you should put in writing before sending a sample.

What the GChK is and where to find it

The General Chemical State Laboratory is a state chemical-analysis service presented on the website of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE). The decision examined here was issued by the Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance, published in Government Gazette B 5293/20-09-2024, and replaced decision 30/002/000/8788/30.12.2016 ^[1]. For which GChK laboratories are accredited and for which tests, the public register is the E.SY.D. catalogue ^[2]. The GChK accreditation page on the AADE site did not open when we checked on 10 October 2026, so we do not state its scope of accreditation.

Official control and services to third parties: two roles

The GChK acts as a control authority for public health, the environment, public revenue and consumer protection. When a request comes from a public body exercising those functions, the decision exempts it from paying a fee ^[1]. A private party's request belongs to the other role: a service with a price.

The distinction has a practical effect. The GChK must reject a request where there is a conflict of interest, and may reject one where its control work takes priority ^[1]. An analysis for a private party therefore never ranks above official control: if the laboratory is busy, the private party waits or is turned down.

Decision 30/002/000/6484/2024 at a glance

The discounts follow a specific logic. A 10% discount applies when two or more types of test are requested on the same sample, and 20% when the same type of test is requested on more than one sample, unless the tables of Annex I provide otherwise. Where several discounts apply, the largest is granted ^[1]. For a private party requesting identity and purity on the same vial, the first kind of discount is the relevant one, provided the GChK offers both tests.

Which analyses are requested, and which are not offered

Annex I of the decision sorts the cost of laboratory analyses by product category. For analyses not named individually, or priced as a range, the decision provides for pricing by the general techniques of Table 1 of Annex I. Where the sample is unknown, its identification is priced on the basis of the agreed analyses and parameters ^[1].

We did not check whether the general techniques cover HPLC and mass spectrometry for organic molecules, and we do not know whether the GChK accepts samples of synthetic peptides. That question belongs to the laboratory itself, and the answer should be in writing: which test, by which method, priced under which table of the decision.

One further point concerns identification. As in any laboratory, measuring the intact mass does not confirm a sequence, and a report that says only that «the expected mass was found» evidences less than it appears to. So if the GChK accepts the request, ask for the acceptance to state which technique will be used, which theoretical mass will be compared and with what tolerance, so the result can be laid beside the COA without guesswork. The same logic applies to purity: without the chromatogram and the method parameters, a percentage is a claim rather than data.

How the request is submitted

Under Article 3, the request is submitted in writing or electronically, on the standard AADE form, through the «My Requests» application, or under a cooperation memorandum ^[1]. The GChK decides whether to accept it. The practical order is: first ask whether the specific test is offered, then submit the request, and only after acceptance send the sample.

1. State what the sample is: name, sequence, molecular formula, lot number, salt form if known.
2. State which tests you want, separately: identity and purity.
3. Declare that this is research material and that the purpose is documentation of the lot.
4. Ask for written acceptance, price, VAT and estimated time before dispatch.
5. Send the sample with the packaging and accompanying paperwork the laboratory asks for.

What the report looks like and how you use it

The decision provides that test reports contain the sample details, parameters, methods, results and, if requested, an opinion on conformity and an interpretation ^[1]. For the purpose of this article, an opinion on conformity only has meaning if there is a specification to refer to, and for research material there often is not. Ask for the report with results and method, and make the comparison with the COA yourself.

A state-laboratory report is read like any test report under ISO/IEC 17025 ^[3]: first sample identity and dates, then method, then result. If it includes a chromatographic purity percentage, keep in mind what the HPLC purity percentage measures and what it leaves out before comparing it with the supplier's COA.

When a private accredited laboratory is preferable

The GChK is a reasonable choice when you want a state body, when the analysis falls within the categories of the annexes, and when time is not critical. A private accredited laboratory is preferable when you need a method written for organic molecules with mass spectrometry, when you want to check the scope of accreditation publicly in the E.SY.D. catalogue ^[2], or when you need a predictable delivery time. Whether any particular private laboratory offers this must be confirmed by that laboratory.

What to do next: read the decision in its published form, write down on one page the three questions it does not answer (test and method, VAT and payment, timing), and keep the laboratory's reply in the lot file, whatever it is. A refusal is also a record: it documents that the route was examined.