Abstract In a normative environment an agent’s actions are not only directed by its goals but also by norms. Here, potential conflicts among the agent’s goals and norms makes decision-making challenging. We therefore seek to answer the following questions:(i) how should an agent act in a normative environment? and (ii) how can the agent explain why it acted in a certain way? We propose a solution in which a normative planning problem serves as the basis for a practical reasoning approach based on argumentation. The properties of the best plan(s) w.r.t. goal achievement and norm compliance are mapped to arguments that are used to explain why a plan is justified, using a dialogue game.