Public Accountability of Transnational Private Regulation: Chimera or Reality?

The legitimacy of transnational private regulation is contested where authority is exercised by private actors adopting rules and being involved in processes of implementation and enforcement. We eschew a general discussion of legitimacy in this context in favour of the more manageable sub-component, ‘accountability’. Drawing on the work of political scientists, we conceptualize public accountability both as a virtue and as a mechanism and explore its relevance with regard to transnational private regulation as opposed to its normal habitat, public regulation and authority. This article highlights the relevance and potential of accountability from both a democratic and a constitutional perspective to the realm of transnational private regulation.