Article 1 – The Health Technology Assessment Network of the Americas – RedETSA, launched in June 2011, is a network made up of health ministries, regulatory authorities, health technology assessment agencies, collaborating centers of the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization (WHO/PAHO) and educational and research institutions in the region of the Americas, non-profit, dedicated to promoting Health Technology Assessment (HTA) to inform decision-making, to exchange information among its members, to promote the adoption of common methodologies, to establish priorities for joint work, and to generate and disseminate scientific evidence to strengthen the field of health technology assessment (ETS) among its members.

Article 2 – The general objective of RedETSA is to promote and strengthen the HTA, through the regional exchange of information, to support decision-making on regulation, incorporation, use and substitution of said technologies, in order to improve the quality of care and patient safety and the rational use of technologies, and contribute to the sustainability of health systems and equity in access.

Article 3 – The specific objectives of RedETSA.
I. Identify the situation of the HTA at the national, subregional and regional levels as well as the priorities for its use in order to facilitate cooperation between countries and institutions through networking.
II. Facilitate access to information and the exchange of knowledge in HTA through the Internet.
III. Strengthen the competencies of human resources in STDs in health systems.
IV. Promote good practices for STD.
V. Promote cooperation with other HTA networks (national, sub-regional and global).
VI. Reduce information asymmetry, helping to improve decision-making processes.
VII. Stimulate the consolidation of existing local ETS networks and the synergy of these networks with RedETSA.

Article 4– Commitments assumed by members

Within the framework of the proposed objectives, the members of the Network commit to:

a) To exchange their ETS products and make them available through the communication platforms established for the Network.
b) To attend RedETSA meetings and collaborate virtually.
c) To designate a regular representative and a substitute for each RedETSA member institution.
d) To keep the virtual institutional link updated to maintain contact between members.
e) Not to market the products extracted from RedETSA, nor to enjoy or obtain economic benefits or extraordinary privileges through their use.
f) To respect the intellectual authorship of ETS products that are extracted from RedETSA.
g) To clarify the source of financing for ETS products that are shared through RedETSA and to declare conflicts of interest if they exist.
h) To respect the STD confidentiality criteria established by their authors in each case.
i) To use the results of STDs respecting human rights and ethical and public health principles.
j) To promote the standardization of procedures.

Article 5 – Composition of the Network At the time of approval of this Regulation, RedETSA is formed by the institutions mentioned in Annex I, in addition to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), as its Executive Secretariat.

Sole paragraph: The annex with the members of the Network will be updated each time the incorporation of new institutions is approved by the members of the Network.

Article 6 – Incorporation of new members to RedETSA

The following may be members of RedETSA:

• a) Ministries of Health, regulatory authorities, public health technology evaluation institutions, and institutions responsible for making decisions to incorporate technologies in health systems.
• b) Educational and research institutions, public and private, non-profit, that have a minimum of two years of experience in the production of STD reports and/or research on the health decision-making process.
• c) Non-profit hospitals that have an institutionalized STD area and that have carried out STD studies for at least the last two years.
• d) Collaborating Centers of the World Health Organization in the Region, for as long as they maintain this status.
  §1º – Institutions that have more than one ETS unit, as long as they are formally constituted, may have more than one member in RedETSA for each unit, as provided by the institution.
  § 2nd – To be a member of RedETSA, institutions must commit to the provisions of this Regulation.

Artículo 7º – Request to join RedETSA

To be accepted as a new member of RedETSA, the institution must meet the following requirements:

I. Expresar su interés de formar parte de RedETSA, a través de una carta de intención, que describa: el trabajo realizado en el ámbito de ETS; el número de profesionales involucrados; las principales actividades realizadas en ETS en los últimos dos años.
a) En caso de que la solicitud sea de un Ministerio o Autoridad Reguladora sin experiencia previa en ETS, la carta deberá indicar las razones de la institución para solicitar la entrada en la Red.
II. Nombrar dos representantes formalmente, un titular y un suplente para asistir a las reuniones, ya sea virtual o en persona.

Article 8 – The application for joining RedETSA will be made through the circulation of the documents presented by the applicant among the members of the Network, which will have a period of 30 days to be issued affirmatively, or negatively. inclusion or requiring more explanations about the information presented.

§ 1º In the event that there is no negative response or request for additional information within 30 days, the incorporation request will be approved;

§ 2º In the event that there is any negative concept, the reasons that justify it must be explained in writing, based on this regulation. The request will be submitted again for discussion at the next meeting of the Network and to authorize its entry it must be approved by consensus of the members present at said meeting. In the event that consensus is not achieved, it will be authorized by majority vote among the members present. It should be noted that in any case the result of the vote will be anonymous to the candidate or new member.

Article 9 – Exclusion of members

There may be exclusion of members from the Network in the following situations:

I- Request by member institution to terminate its participation in the Network, notifying in writing of its decision.

II- End of recognition by the WHO of the institution as a Collaborating Center.

III- Non-participation of the institution in 2 consecutive face-to-face meetings, without justification.

IV- Non-participation of the institution in 5 consecutive virtual meetings, without justification.

§ 1º Any member may request the Executive Committee to remove another member from RedETSA, justifying the request by non-compliance with any of the criteria set forth in these regulations. The Executive Committee will evaluate this request and, if considered pertinent, will present it to the members at the next meeting, for decision by consensus of the members present at the meeting. In the event that consensus is not achieved, it will be authorized by majority vote among the members present. It should be noted that in any case the result of the vote will be anonymous to the candidate or new member.

§ 2º In the case of sections III and IV, the termination of participation must be confirmed by consensus of the members present.

Article 10 – The activities of RedETSA will be coordinated by an Executive Committee, made up of an Executive Secretariat, exercised by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and by 6 member institutions of the Network.

§ 1º The 6 member institutions mentioned above will be indicated by the members of the Network and if there are more than 6 institutions indicated, the definition will be given by vote.

§ 2º Every 12 months the renewal of 3 of the 6 institutions will be carried out, which cannot be re-elected consecutively.

Article 11 – The Executive Committee will have the following powers

I. Carry out the scheduling of tasks, meetings, goals, and everything that is needed for the proper functioning of the Network.

II- Monitor projects and other activities of RedETSA;

III. Propose agendas, planning and execution of activities for members of the Network;

IV. Prepare technical reports for members to monitor and evaluate activities related to the Network's objectives;

V. Call Network meetings;

VI. Represent the Network externally, without prejudice to the representations of the institutions themselves in the different areas;

VII. Require member institutions, whenever necessary, to provide support staff and other means to achieve the Network's objectives;

VIII. Submit pertinent matters to the decision of the members of the Network;

IX. Adopt the necessary measures for the execution of the planned activities.

Article 12 – Working groups

RedETSA will have working groups that are considered essential for the operation and needs of the Network, and each group will organize its operation according to the needs of the case, and must report on its activities and progress in each RedETSA session.

Sole Paragraph: The topics of the working groups will be defined by the members in the virtual/or in-person meetings.

Article 13 – The RedETSA Executive Committee is responsible for seeking budgetary and extrabudgetary funds for the sustainability of the network. RedETSA members may collaborate in this task according to their possibilities. The Executive Committee is responsible for informing members about the funds used each year and for estimating the funds necessary for the Network's activities.

Article 14 – RedETSA virtual meetings must be held at least once every two months and in-person meetings at least once a year.

Article 15 – The RedETSA Executive Committee must meet virtually at least once a month.

Article 16 – This Statute must be approved by the members of RedETSA.

Article 17 – The Executive Committee reserves the right to decide on situations not provided for in these Regulations, with subsequent ratification by the members.

Article 18 – The proposed changes to the RedETSA Regulations may only be approved in face-to-face meetings, by an absolute majority among the members of the network.

Article 19 – The use of the RedETSA logo in advertising materials for print and/or digital must be previously approved by the RedETSA Executive Committee, and its use for commercial purposes is prohibited.

Article 20 – This regulation will come into force on the date of its publication.