State General Laboratory Annual Report 2019

9 State General laboratory Annual Report 2019 ABOUT THE SGL GENERAL SCOPE AND RESPONSIBILITIES The State General Laboratory of Cyprus (SGL) is one of the five independent Departments of the Ministry of Health. It is the main official laboratory for the chemical / biological / microbiological / toxicological and ra- diological control and the official National Control Center for foodstuffs, water, environment, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, various consumer goods, controlled drugs and other police exhibits. This wide scope of responsibili- ties is covered under 21 specialised laboratories and five Units. All laboratories under the SGL are accredited according to the European Standard EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005 in the areas of its competence. It is also the National Reference Laboratory for several food safety sectors.