University laboratories and analytical services to third parties via ΕΛΚΕ

How does an outside buyer commission a test from a university lab, and what invoice do they receive?

A university laboratory can, under article 53 of Law 5094/2024 amending Law 4957/2022, take on services for bodies of the private or public sector ^[1]. The commission is not placed by ordering from a catalogue: it passes through the university's Special Account for Research Funds (ΕΛΚΕ, ELKE), which approves the contract, and the invoice you receive is issued through it rather than by the laboratory itself.

What the law does not give you is a guarantee that a particular laboratory will accept your sample, or accept it quickly. A service laboratory also exists to serve the institution's own projects, and instrument availability depends on them. This article describes the legal route, the practical one and the points to ask for in writing.

What Law 4957/2022 allows

Article 53 of Law 5094/2024 amends paragraph 1 of article 52 of Law 4957/2022. On the text we read on 10 October 2026, the university laboratories of a higher-education institution may serve «bodies of the private or public sector» named in article 14(1)(a) of Law 4270/2014 ^[1]. For a buyer of research material who is a company or an individual, the relevant word is «private»: the law expressly provides for the private sector as a client.

The same provision allows the ELKE Research Committee to approve a standard contract per laboratory, or an equivalent document, where the laboratory operates a quality-assurance system, and provides that a summary of each contract is posted on the «Diavgeia» programme ^[1]. The commission therefore leaves a public trace.

The role of the ELKE Research Committee

Contracts are «approved by the Research Committee of the Special Account for Research Funds», following a request from the director of the laboratory or another interested faculty member who serves in it ^[1]. The outside buyer does not apply to the ELKE; you contact the laboratory, and the laboratory starts the process.

For how this works in practice, the service-laboratory regulation of the University of Patras is one public source. It provides that each laboratory issues a detailed catalogue of the services it offers with a cost per unit, containing at least the description of the service, the unit of measurement, the cost per unit (net value) and the staff responsible for the analysis, and that contracts are signed by the Chair of the Research Committee, the scientific supervisor and the commissioning body, in three equal copies ^[2]. That is one institution's regulation; other universities may have different provisions and must be checked separately.

How to find a laboratory with the right equipment

Look at chemistry, pharmacy and biochemistry departments, and read each laboratory's page for three things: which techniques it names, whether it mentions services to third parties, and whom it lists as a contact. The Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, for example, names techniques such as HPLC and LC-MS on its page, but the page does not mention services to third parties, and the only public telephone numbers are personal ones ^[4]. A technique on a page is not a service.

Quotation, contract and the 10,000 euro threshold

Article 53 provides that where the value of the contract exceeds 10,000 euros, excluding the applicable VAT, the contract is drawn up «compulsorily in written form» ^[1]. An analysis of one or a few samples is almost certainly below that amount. The text we read does not say what applies below the threshold, and we will not guess: ask the laboratory which document it will give you, and in every case ask for a written quotation.

The quotation should state which tests it includes, by which method, how many samples, whether the price includes VAT, when the report is expected, and who bears the risk if the sample is consumed or destroyed. Each laboratory under an ELKE prices from its own cost schedule, so there is no single university price list that we could quote.

Invoicing through the ELKE

Because the ELKE manages the revenue of service projects, the University of Patras regulation provides that the cost catalogue is communicated to the ELKE so that revenue can be monitored ^[2]. For the buyer this means the issuer of the invoice is the institution's ELKE, not the department. For what a purchase invoice must state and how it is booked, see the article on the invoice and the tax number in the same journal.

Accredited or not: what changes in the report

A university laboratory may be accredited, but is not necessarily so. The E.SY.D. laboratory catalogue is searched by name or by certificate number, and the scope of accreditation is read on each entry's page ^[3]. If the test you want is outside an accredited scope, the report is the laboratory's own and carries no accreditation mark for that test. That does not make it useless; it makes it a document of different weight, to be recorded as such.

For identity, ask which technique will be used and read what a mass-spectrometry identity check proves and what it does not: intact mass does not confirm a sequence, and a report should show theoretical mass, measured mass and tolerance.

Realistic timing and priority

The University of Patras regulation describes service laboratories as units that support the department's research priorities ^[2]. We did not read binding delivery times for outside clients and give no estimate. It is reasonable to expect that a funded research project with a deadline will come ahead of an external analysis; ask for a written delivery date for the report, and note whether it is an estimate or a commitment.

What to do next

1. Pick two or three laboratories and ask whether they provide services to third parties for the test you want.
2. Ask for a written quotation with tests, method, VAT and the delivery date of the report.
3. Ask who issues the invoice, and ask for the document or contract you will sign.
4. Check in the E.SY.D. catalogue whether the test is within an accredited scope.
5. Keep the quotation, contract, invoice, proof of sample delivery and report in the lot file.