56In that regard, it should be borne in mind that a disciplinary procedure consists of two separate phases, the first being the administrative inquiry in which incriminating and exonerating evidence is investigated, initiated by a decision of the appointing authority and closed, after the official concerned has been heard concerning the alleged facts, by an inquiry report, and the second being the disciplinary procedure properly so-called, initiated by the appointing authority on the basis of the inquiry report, which assumes that the official was heard before a penalty applicable to him or her was adopted by the appointing authority (see, to that effect, order of 22 January 2019, Kerstens v Commission, C‑577/18 P, not published, EU:C:2019:129, paragraph 26).
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