A sanction procedure is the separate administrative process used to decide whether a penalty should be imposed after a review of alleged misconduct. In privacy and cyber security settings, it follows an investigation or contestation step and is not the same as the initial complaint or finding of a violation.
This matters because legal deadlines, evidence handling, and procedural rights often differ between the review phase and the sanction phase. Security and compliance teams need accurate records of notices, internal checks, and response dates so they can defend the organization, challenge the facts, or reduce exposure. In real-world cases, a sanction procedure may follow a data protection inquiry, a breach-related assessment, or another compliance review where regulators decide what penalty, if any, is appropriate.