First, accountability refers to the obligation to explain and justify management and leadership. It is a relational concept in witch the actor that is hold to be accountable has to explain and justify its management and leadership to another actor or forum. Important to accountability is that the actor or forum who judges on the management and leadership of the accountable is able to pass a judgement and has the possibility of conferring consequences or costs to the accountable.
Accountability is an issue for governance in contexts where the effectiveness of decision-making processes is essential for their authority and credibility. It refers to the allocation and acceptance of responsibility for decisions and actions, as well the demonstration of whether and how these responsibilities have been met. A main challenge in EU Marine Governance is that accountability becomes diffused over many actors. Especially when a policy decision of one sector or institution can have an effect on multiple sectors. Accountability is needed among all the affected sectors to the decision-making authorities, even if this is an authority from a particular sector.