Longevity clinics in Latin America

How is longevity medicine regulated across Latin America?

Latin America has no regulator above the national level. The two intergovernmental health structures reaching the markets the Atlas maps are a customs union whose norms take effect only once each country writes them into its own law, and a health ministers' body that coordinates rather than authorizes. Neither creates a regional marketing authorization, and neither creates a regional facility license.

Norms issued by the bodies of Mercosur are binding on the states parties and must, where necessary, be incorporated into national legal systems through the procedures each country's own legislation provides. A Mercosur rule on a health product therefore has effect in a member state only once that state has written it into its own law, and such rules enter into force simultaneously across the bloc only thirty days after every state has reported doing so.

Mercosur states parties, Protocol of Ouro Preto, articles 40 and 42, signed December 17, 1994. Primary source .

The Andean health body coordinates and supports what its member countries already do rather than licensing or authorizing anything. It was created by a health cooperation agreement among the countries of the Andean area, and it describes its own work as coordinating and promoting action to improve the level of health. It registers no product and licenses no facility.

Organismo Andino de Salud, Convenio Hipolito Unanue (ORAS-CONHU), Convenio de Cooperacion en Salud de los Paises del Area Andina, signed December 18, 1971. Primary source .

Medium-high. The Mercosur incorporation rule is read from the Brazilian decree that promulgates the Protocol, which is a government text carrying the treaty in full. The Andean body's description is its own. Neither source addresses health facility licensing directly, so this entry says only that neither instrument creates one.

The two structures reach four of the six Latin American countries in the Atlas taxonomy and do not overlap. Brazil and Argentina are Mercosur states parties, though only Brazil carries organizations and Argentina sits in the taxonomy with none. Chile and Colombia are members of the Andean health body and both carry organizations, and Panama is one of its observers. Mexico's supranational layer is the North American agreement, carried on that region's page. Whether the Central American integration system or the Andean Community carries any instrument on health facilities was not checked, and no Latin American country has a country entry in this file yet.

For how individual markets in Latin America compare, see Longevity Clinic Regulation, Market by Market .