The temporary suspension of a deputy in the Congress is primarily regulated in articles 20 to 22 and in Chapter Eight "On parliamentary discipline" of the Regulations of the Congress of Deputies, in its current wording after the 2025 reform. From these provisions, two main suspension routes can be distinguished: (a) suspension for reasons of parliamentary discipline and internal order of the Chamber, and (b) suspension linked to a criminal procedure (pre-trial detention or final conviction).

1. General framework and competent bodies

Article 21 establishes that deputies "shall be suspended from their parliamentary rights and duties":

• By application of the parliamentary discipline rules of the Regulations themselves.
• When, having granted the waiver of immunity, there is a final indictment order and the deputy is in pre-trial detention, "while it lasts".
• When a final conviction entails it or its enforcement makes it impossible to exercise the parliamentary function.

The bodies involved, depending on the case, are:

• Congress Board: directs parliamentary discipline (art. 99) and can propose suspension to the Plenary.
• Presidency: can impose order sanctions (arts. 100, 104, 106) and immediately suspend up to one month in very serious disorder cases.
• Statute Committee: issues proposals regarding waiver of immunity (arts. 11 et seq. of the Regulations, depending on the text consulted) and makes proposals to the Plenary in the case of art. 101.1.4.º.
• Congress Plenary: is the body that ultimately agrees on the temporary suspension "in the capacity of deputy" for disciplinary reasons (art. 101) and resolves the waiver of immunity.

2. Suspension for parliamentary discipline

This route is articulated in Chapter Eight, especially in articles 99, 100, 101, 104 and 106:

• First phase: prior sanctions by the Board and the Presidency (arts. 99 and 100). The Board may deprive the deputy of some or all rights recognized in articles 6 to 9 if, for example, they incur repeated absences or breach the duty of secrecy (art. 99). The Presidency may prohibit attendance at one or two sessions and immediately expel from the chamber (arts. 100 and 104).
• Second phase: proposal for temporary suspension. Article 101.1 provides that the Plenary may agree on the "temporary suspension in the capacity of deputy" in four cases (persistence after sanction under art. 99, carrying weapons in the chamber, refusal to leave the chamber after expulsion, and contravention of art. 17 on duties of conduct and incompatibilities). In the first three cases, the proposal is made by the Board; in the fourth, by the Statute Committee (art. 101.2).
• Debate and decision of the Plenary. Proposals are submitted to "consideration and decision of the Plenary [...] in a secret session" (art. 101.2, in connection with art. 63, which includes suspension of a member among matters to be dealt with in a non-public session). Only group spokespersons participate in the debate, and "the Chamber shall resolve without further procedures." The Regulations do not establish a specific reinforced majority, so the ordinary voting regime for Plenary agreements applies.
• Cases of serious disorder. Article 106 allows the Presidency to immediately expel any person who promotes serious disorder and, if a member of the Chamber, suspend them "on the spot in their capacity as such for up to one month," without prejudice to the Plenary, at the proposal of the Board and according to art. 101, being able to "extend or aggravate the sanction."

In all these cases, the suspension decision is formalized by agreement of the Plenary (or the Presidency, for suspension up to one month under art. 106) and recorded in the Session Diary; the Presidency may order its publication in the Official Gazette of the General Courts.

3. Suspension for criminal causes

The second route is linked to criminal procedures, connecting the articles on waiver of immunity with article 21:

• Processing of the waiver of immunity. Upon receiving a judicial request for authorization to charge or prosecute a deputy, the Presidency, "subject to agreement of the Board," refers it to the Statute Committee (article on waiver of immunity in the consolidated Regulations). The Committee must conclude its work within a maximum period of 30 days, "after hearing the interested deputy," which may be written or oral before the Committee itself.
• Plenary agreement on the waiver of immunity. Once the Committee's work is concluded, the matter is submitted to the Plenary, which decides to grant or deny authorization and whose agreement is notified to the judicial authority.
• Automatic suspension. If the Congress has granted the waiver of immunity and there is a final indictment order, the deputy is suspended "when in pre-trial detention and while it lasts" (art. 21.1.2.º). Also, "they shall also be suspended" when a final conviction so provides or when its enforcement makes it impossible to exercise the parliamentary function (art. 21.2). In these cases, the Chamber essentially acts by receiving and publicizing the situation communicated by the judicial body.

Suspension for criminal causes does not require a new discretionary suspension agreement (beyond the waiver of immunity itself), but operates by regulatory mandate when the conditions of pre-trial detention or final conviction are met, which must be communicated to Congress so that the Presidency and the Board adopt appropriate measures and record them in official registers and publications.

The Presidency of the Congress of Deputies is the highest authority of the Lower House and concentrates functions of institutional representation, direction of debates, internal organization, and parliamentary discipline. These powers derive mainly from the Spanish Constitution (arts. 66, 72 and 64, among others) and the Regulations of the Congress of Deputies, whose current text is published in the Official State Gazette by Resolution of February 24, 1982, with successive reforms.

1. Basic legal foundation

The Constitution establishes that the Chambers elect their Presidents and approve their Regulations, which regulate internal functioning and the exercise of the powers of their bodies. The Congress Regulations specify this mandate and expressly attribute to the Presidency:

• Representation of the Chamber: the Presidency represents the Congress in all official acts, before other institutions and third parties.
• Direction and order of debates and the smooth running of the work.
• Function as guarantor of the Regulations: to comply with and enforce them, interpret them in cases of doubt, and supplement them in cases of omission, with the support of the Board and the Spokespersons' Board when it concerns criteria of general scope.
• Ordering of payments and economic management, without prejudice to delegations that may be conferred.

2. Functions in the Plenary

Regarding the Plenary, the Regulations assign a central role to the Presidency:

• Convocation and presidency of plenary sessions, setting, together with the Board and after hearing the Spokespersons' Board, the calendar and agenda.
• Direction of debates: grants and withdraws the right to speak, orders interventions, ensures respect for turns and times, and guarantees that discussions adhere to the subject matter.
• Maintenance of order: may call deputies to order, withdraw their speaking rights, and even adopt disciplinary measures provided in the Regulations when serious disorder or repeated breaches occur.
• Direction of voting: proclaims the result, resolves incidents regarding vote counting, and guarantees the formal correctness of the procedure.
• Formal custody of decisions: signs the resolutions and agreements of the Plenary, and orders their transmission to other institutions (for example, the Senate, the Government or the King, as appropriate).

3. Functions in the Congress Board

The Board is the governing body of the Congress and its collegiate representation. The Presidency:

• Directs and coordinates the action of the Board, of which it is part as its president.
• Calls and presides over Board meetings, assisted by the General Secretariat.
• Through the Board, participates in the qualification and admission for processing of writings and initiatives (bill projects and proposals, questions, motions, requests for appearances, etc.) and in decisions about their processing.
• Participates in the programming of the general lines of action of the Chamber and in setting the calendar of the Plenary and commissions.
• Participates in the preparation and execution of the Congress budget and in the ordering of the Chamber's expenses.

4. Functions in the Spokespersons' Board and Commissions

The Presidency also plays a key role in political coordination bodies:

• Spokespersons' Board: presides over and convenes it, ex officio or at the request of two parliamentary groups or one-fifth of the members of the Chamber. In the Board, the organization of debates, time allocation, and the Plenary's political agenda are negotiated and finalized.
• Commissions: the Regulations provide that the Presidency of the Congress may convene and preside over any Commission, although it only votes in those of which it is a member. This reinforces its function of general coordination of parliamentary work.

5. Disciplinary and internal order powers

The Presidency is the main guarantor of parliamentary order:

• May call to order those who violate the Regulations, disrespect the Chamber, or disrupt the session.
• May adopt disciplinary measures provided by the Regulations (for example, expulsion from the chamber in extreme cases), always under the procedural channels and guarantees established by the Regulations.
• Must protect the prerogatives of deputies: the Regulations provide that, in the face of judicial or governmental actions that may hinder the exercise of the mandate, the Presidency immediately adopts necessary measures to safeguard the rights of the Chamber and its members.

6. Relations with other institutions and administrative functions

Finally, the Presidency acts as an institutional hinge:

• Relation with the King and the Government: by constitutional mandate, the President of the Congress endorses certain acts of the King (such as the dissolution of the Cortes in the investiture procedure) and channels formal communications with the Government, especially regarding parliamentary activity.
• Relation with other institutions and constitutional bodies: represents the Congress before the Senate, the Constitutional Court, and other bodies, and signs official communications and agreements adopted by the Chamber.
• Organization of services: under its direction, the administrative and technical activity of the Chamber is articulated (through the General Secretariat and parliamentary services), ensuring the necessary support for the exercise of legislative and government oversight functions.

In summary, the Presidency of the Congress concentrates a set of powers combining institutional representation, political leadership of the work, internal order, and disciplinary authority, all framed within the constitutional framework and the Chamber's Regulations.

In Spain, personal defense sprays (for example, pepper sprays) are mainly regulated as weapons and aerosol generators, so their possession and commercialization are only legal if they meet a series of rather strict requirements. The key points are: only certain approved models can be sold, only in gun shops, to adults, and always with controlled labeling and composition.

Basic regulatory framework

• Weapons Regulations, approved by Royal Decree 137/1993, of January 29, and modified by Royal Decree 726/2020, of August 4 (BOE-A-2020-9134).
• Order of October 3, 1994 specifying the applicable regime for personal defense "sprays" permitted for sale in gun shops (BOE-A-1994-21767).
• Royal Decree 1381/2009, of August 28, on requirements for the manufacture and commercialization of aerosol generators (BOE-A-2009-15056), modified by RDs 473/2014 and 899/2017.
• Organic Law 4/2015, on citizen security protection (BOE-A-2015-3442), which serves as a sanctioning framework for weapons and explosives.

Concept and classification

The Order of October 3, 1994 defines the personal defense spray as a non-reusable container that contains a compressed, liquefied, or dissolved gas under pressure, equipped with a discharge device that expels the content in aerosol form, intended for personal defense.

These sprays fall under the Weapons Regulations regime and, for industrial safety purposes, under the general regime of aerosol generators of Royal Decree 1381/2009 (maximum container capacity, resistance, tests, flammability criteria, conformity marking "inverted ε", etc.).

Requirements for commercialization

• Prior sanitary approval: only personal defense sprays that have been approved by the Ministry of Health (formerly Health and Consumer Affairs) can be sold. The 1994 Order details a procedure before the Directorate General of Public Health that requires:
  • Complete identification of the applicant (manufacturer or importer) and, if applicable, the foreign supplier.
  • Accreditation of the status of "gunsmith" according to the Weapons Regulations.
  • Detailed product sheet: chemical composition (according to IUPAC nomenclature), physicochemical properties (flammability, flash point, stability, etc.).
  • Toxicological studies (acute oral, dermal, inhalation toxicity, eye and skin irritation, sensitization, etc.).
  • Information on mode of use, dose per discharge, and maximum number of discharges.
  • Proposal for classification, packaging, and labeling adjusted to the Dangerous Preparations Regulations and substance classification and labeling regulations.
• Exclusive sale in gun shops: the 1994 Order establishes that these sprays can only be sold in gun shops, whose owners must:
  • Be authorized as gunsmiths.
  • Require from suppliers the Ministry of Health's approval resolution for each specific product.
• Prohibition of distance selling: the sale of personal defense sprays by catalog, e-commerce, or other distance selling means is expressly prohibited.
• Restricted advertising: advertising may only be done in publications specialized in weapons, based on the General Advertising Law.

Labeling and technical characteristics

The 1994 Order and Royal Decree 1381/2009 require very comprehensive labeling:

• Product and holder identification data.
• Composition, safety warnings, and emergency measures in case of accident or poisoning.
• Expiration date and batch number.
• Mandatory indications at least in Spanish.

Additionally, as aerosol generators, they must comply with the safety specifications (container resistance, flammability criteria, prohibition of pyrophoric or self-heating substances, etc.) of Royal Decree 1381/2009 and carry the conformity marking.

Possession, carrying, and use by individuals

• Minimum age: the 1994 Order allows sale in gun shops exclusively to adults, who must prove their majority (identity document).
• License: for legally approved personal defense sprays sold in gun shops, the regulations do not require a specific weapons license, but their possession and use are subject to the general weapons control of Organic Law 4/2015 and the Weapons Regulations.
• Scope of use: only strictly defensive use is covered. Unjustified use, in prohibited contexts or in a dangerous manner, may constitute a serious administrative offense or even a crime, depending on the outcome.
• Non-approved sprays: the Order considers the purchase, possession, and use, except by authorized officials, of sprays without prior Ministry of Health approval or used outside established conditions an administrative offense. These offenses are sanctioned under the citizen security regime (currently Organic Law 4/2015).

Practical summary

• Only personal defense sprays approved by Health and covered by the Weapons Regulations are legal.
• Their sale is limited to authorized gun shops, in person and to persons over 18 years old.
• They must comply with aerosol regulations (RD 1381/2009) and citizen security (OL 4/2015), with complete labeling in Spanish.
• Possession or use of non-approved sprays, or improper use of authorized ones, may lead to significant administrative sanctions and, depending on the case, criminal liability.