Bill 142.

Summary.

The bill makes the protection and promotion of breastfeeding its objective and would apply throughout the Republic of Panama to persons and entities connected with feeding infants and children. It assigns the Ministry of Health (Ministerio de Salud) responsibility for coordinating programs with public bodies, universities, local governments and civil organizations. It promotes exclusive breastfeeding until six months of age and continued breastfeeding, with complementary foods, until twenty-four months or longer. It provides for counseling to mothers and health guidance on infant feeding. Public institutions, educational centers, commercial facilities, airports and businesses would provide private breastfeeding spaces meeting Ministry of Health standards and subject to its certification. The bill also defines health workers, products, feeding practices, marketing and advertising.

It creates the National Commission for the Promotion of Breastfeeding (Comisión Nacional para el Fomento de la Lactancia Materna), attached to the Ministry of Health, with representatives of public bodies, professional groups, workers, businesses and civil organizations. Provincial and comarca commissions would operate under regulations issued by the Executive Branch (Órgano Ejecutivo), with technical coordination by the national commission. CONFOLACMA would support breastfeeding policies, make legal and technical recommendations, assist training, and review educational and promotional materials, including matters concerning digital marketing. Health service directors and workers would implement breastfeeding support practices, train staff and observe the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (Código Internacional de Comercialización de Sucedáneos de la leche materna). Detected violations would be reported to the General Directorate of Health (Dirección General de Salud).

Health authorities would organize education beginning with the first prenatal visit. The Ministry of Health, the Social Security Fund (Caja de Seguro Social) and the private sector would work through the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative to provide materials and counseling. Municipalities would hold quarterly educational sessions and activities during World Breastfeeding Week, with advice from the competent institutions. The Ministry of Education (Ministerio de Educación) would include breastfeeding in general basic and secondary education. Universities would include training in Health Sciences, Humanities and related programs according to standards suggested by the World Health Organization (OMS). Public-facing materials would require prior health review and content in Spanish. The Ministry of Health, through the Sexual and Reproductive Health Section (Sección de Salud Sexual y Reproductiva) and the Nutritional Health Department (Departamento de Salud Nutricional), would review infant feeding information. Only health workers could deliver it to families; where medically justified, trained staff would explain the individual use of substitutes. The bill also prescribes content for materials addressed to health professionals.

The bill limits the provision of formula to physicians for research or evaluation and donations of breast-milk substitutes to medically justified cases. In emergencies, it requires individual, discreet handling. It regulates promotion of complementary foods, bottles, teats and pacifiers, and sets labeling requirements for formula, complementary foods, bottles and various kinds of milk. It prohibits promotion of infant and follow-on formula to the public and mothers, including advertising, discounts, gifts and samples. It restricts benefits and sponsorships from manufacturers, marketers and distributors to health workers and scientific societies. It prohibits trading or monetizing human milk and requires donations to certified milk banks to be altruistic. Violations would be subject to procedures and penalties set by the competent authorities.

For working mothers, the bill provides for nursing rooms or private spaces and paid breaks of fifteen minutes every two hours or half an hour twice a day, arranged through a plan agreed with the employer. Travel time to the room would not reduce the break. Entities with more than 20 women of childbearing age would have to provide a nursing room; others would designate a suitable space within their financial means. Lactating students in schools and universities would share the rights established for working mothers. Mothers could transport expressed milk and related equipment within or outside the country without traveling with the child. Employer violations would be sanctioned under the Health Code (Código Sanitario) and Labor Code (Código de Trabajo). Oversight would fall to the General Directorate of Health and the National Inspection Directorate (Dirección Nacional de Inspección) of the Ministry of Labor and Workforce Development (Ministerio de Trabajo y Desarrollo Laboral).

The bill also provides for promotion councils in each district or comarca, annual activities from the first through the 7th of August, and one year for institutions to revise their regulations and manuals. It supersedes Law 50 of November 23, 1995, assigns implementing regulations to the Executive Branch, and would take effect three months after promulgation. Its provisions concern the Ministry of Women (Ministerio de la Mujer), the Ministry of Social Development (Ministerio de Desarrollo Social), the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and Families (Secretaría Nacional de Niñez, Adolescencia y Familia), and the Children and Adolescents Jurisdiction (Jurisdicción de Niñez y Adolescencia), as well as health services, education, employers, infant-product commerce and transport.