5 bodies currently operating in the area under analysis, which are required to act in an increasingly more relevant and decisive manner. Such is the case with ethics and bioethics committees and commissions, largely resorted to and relied on in national and international instruments and incorporated into health and research centers. 22. In all such cases, the actions of such expert bodies – whose decisions and opinions influence the operation of the institutions to which they belong and the conduct of public authorities to various degrees – are subject to national and international, general and specific, ethical and legal regulations, in addition to scientific and technical standards, that they ought to adequately know and apply. It is critical to take into consideration that their decisions, suggestions and instructions will have remarkable bearing on the definition and exercise of the rights and the understanding and fulfillment of the obligations of those who, in different capacities, play a role in the daily relationship between the providers and recipients of services in which human life and integrity are at stake. e) Human rights and bioethics 23. In connection with the issues addressed in this Opinion, I would like to mention that, in developing the Inter-American corpus juris on human rights –which still suffers a great deficit as far as the states signing and ratifying the American Convention, the protocols thereto and the specific agreements on human rights are concerned –, it is necessary to taken into consideration certain issues that are extremely important and highly current (or long recognized), on which there are still no regional declarations, much less binding treaties. These include the links between bioethics and human rights, which have been the subject of copious work all over the world, particularly in the context of UNESCO and the medical profession. At the European regional level, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being, signed in Oviedo (April 4, 1997) also bears noting. Such convention certainly provides broad authority to seek advisory opinions of the European Court of Human Rights. 24. It is my view that the initiatives to move ahead in the examination and issuing of a declaration and, in due time, a treaty examining and providing orientation on this subject – one that is plagued with questions and grey areas – in the Americas – or, at least, in Latin America – are feasible. The existence of a regional instrument associated to the general and special international instruments makes sense insofar as emphasis may be placed on problems that present specific features in the various countries in the area, considering the existing conditions of poverty, lack of information, insufficient technology, vulnerable groups, health services coverage, and so on. G) Statute of limitations on the criminal action 25. There is a topic of the judgment that bears noting. Such is the statute of limitations on the prosecution of a defendant for a certain action that entails criminal medical liability (strictly speaking, the statute of limitations on the criminal action). In analyzing this issue, regard must be had to the implications of the statute of limitations as far as the defendant’s defenses go and, accordingly, for the