Approve penalty (8)
I believe the answer is:
sanction
This clue is a double definition.
'approve' is the first definition.
('sanction' can be a synonym of 'approve')
'penalty' is the second definition.
(thesaurus)
(Other definitions for sanction that I've seen before include "Authorisation" , "punitive action" , "Confirm" , "Official permission or authority" , "Threatened penalty; official permission" .)