Steve Charnovitz

Bio

Mr. Charnovitz received a Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor from Yale University and a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University. He is admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia and New York, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

From 1995 to 1999, he was Director of the Global Environment & Trade Study (GETS), which he helped to establish in 1994. GETS is centered at Yale University. From 1991 to 1995, he was Policy Director of the U.S. Competitiveness Policy Council in Washington, D.C. The Council issued four reports to the U.S. Congress and President. From 1987 to 1991, he was a Legislative Assistant to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.  Before that, he was an analyst at the U.S. Department of Labor where his responsibilities included worker rights in U.S. trade negotiations and conducting a management review of a vocational training project in Saudi Arabia.

Academic Background

  •  B.A., J.D. from Yale University

  • Master of Public Policy from Harvard University

Areas of Expertise

  • Trade law, environmental law, labor law

Present Position (s)

  • Practices Law at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering

Previous Position (s)

  • Director of the Global Environment & Trade Study (GETS) centered at Yale University. 1995 to 1999

  • Policy Director of the U.S. Competitiveness Policy Council in Washington, D.C. 1991 to 1995

  • Legislative Assistant to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.  1987 to 1991

  • U.S. Department of Labor, involved in worker rights in U.S. trade negotiations and conducting a management review of a vocational training project in Saudi Arabia.

Other Activities and Memberships

  • Advisory Board, Canada-US Law Institute

Publications

A collection of his essays, Trade Law and Global Governance, was recently published by Cameron May. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Law Journals

  • "Adjudicating Compliance in the WTO: A Review of DSU Article 21.5 (with Jason Kearns)," Journal of International Economic Law, 2002.

  • "The Legal Status of the Doha Declaration," Journal of International Economic Law, March 2002.

  • "Trans-Parliamentary Associations in Global Functional Agencies," Transnational Associations, 2002.

  • "A World Environment Organization," Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, 2002.

  • "WTO Cosmopolitics," New York University Journal of International Law and Politics, forthcoming 2002.

  • "Triangulating the World Trade Organization," American Journal of International Law, January 2002.

  • "The Law of Environmental PPMs in the World Trade Organization," Yale Journal of International Law, Winter 2002.

  • "Rethinking WTO Trade Sanctions," American Journal of International Law, October 2001.

  • "Economic and Social Actors in the World Trade Organization," ILSA Journal of International and Comparative Law, Spring 2001.

  • "Opening the WTO to Nongovernmental Interests," Fordham International Law Journal, November-December 2000.

  • "The Supervision of Health and Biosafety Regulation by World Trade Rules," Tulane Environmental Law Journal, Summer 2000.

  • "New World Trade Organization Decision May Widen Opportunities for Amicus Briefs," Environmental Law Institute online, July 2000.

  • "World Trade and the Environment: A Review of the New WTO Report," Georgetown International Environmental Law Review, Winter 2000.

  • "The Globalization of Economic Human Rights," Brooklyn Journal of International Law, Winter 1999.

  • "World Trade Organization Turtle Decision Makes Progress," Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy, 1998.

  • "Learning from Early NGO Activity," Proceedings of the 92nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law, 1998.

  • "Environment and Health Under WTO Dispute Settlement," International Lawyer, Fall 1998.

  • "Linking Topics in Treaties," University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Economic Law, Summer 1998.

  • "The Moral Exception in Trade Policy," Virginia Journal of International Law, Spring 1998. Reprinted in part in "Forty Years of Scholarship," Virginia Journal of International Law, Spring 2000.

  • "A Critical Guide to the WTO's Report on Trade and Environment," Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law, 1997.

  • "Trade, Employment and Labour Standards: The OECD Study and Recent Developments in the Trade and Labor Standards Debate," Temple International and Comparative Law Journal, Spring 1997.

  • "The WTO’s Alcoholic Beverages Decision," Review of European Community & International Environmental Law, 1997.

  • "Two Centuries of Participation: NGOs and International Governance," Michigan Journal of International Law, Winter 1997. Excerpted in L'Economie Politique, 1er trimestre 2002.

  • "Multilateral Environmental Agreements and Trade Rules," Environmental Policy and Law, June 1996.

  • "Participation of Nongovernmental Organizations in the World Trade Organization," University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Economic Law, Spring 1996.

  • "Dolphins and Tuna: An Analysis of the Second GATT Panel Report," Environmental Law Reporter, October 1994.

  • "The NAFTA Environmental Side Agreement: Implications for Environmental Cooperation, Trade Policy, and American Treatymaking," Temple International and Comparative Law Journal, Fall 1994. Reprinted in: NAFTA and the Environment (Kluwer, 1996). Reprinted in part in International Trade Law: Theory and Practice (Lexis Publishing, 2001).

  • "The North American Free Trade Agreement: Green Law or Green Spin?", Law & Policy in International Business, Fall 1994.

  • "Green Roots, Bad Pruning: GATT Rules and Their Application to Environmental Trade Measures," Tulane Environmental Law Journal, Summer 1994.

  • "No Time For NEPA: Trade Agreements on a Fast Track," Minnesota Journal of Global Trade, Summer 1994.

  • "Environmental Trade Sanctions and the GATT: An Analysis of the Pelly Amendment," American University Journal of International Law and Policy, Spring 1994. Revised version available in Additional Essays on Whales and Man (High North Alliance, 1995).

  • "Free Trade, Fair Trade, Green Trade: Defogging the Debate," Cornell International Law Journal, 1994.

  • "A Taxonomy of Environmental Trade Measures," Georgetown International Environmental Law Review, 1993.

  • "Designing American Industrial Policy: General Versus Sectoral Approaches," Stanford Law & Policy Review, Fall 1993.

  • "Environmental Trade Measures: Multilateral or Unilateral?", Environmental Policy and Law, June/August 1993.

  • "Achieving Environmental Goals under International Rules," Review of European Community & International Environmental Law, 1993.

  • "The Environment Versus Trade Rules: Defogging the Debate," Environmental Law, 1993.

  • "NAFTA: An Analysis of its Environmental Provisions," Environmental Law Reporter, February 1993.

Articles in Edited Volumes

  • "Judicial Independence in the World Trade Organization," International Organizations and International Dispute Settlement: Trends and Prospects (Transnational Publishers, 2002).

  • "Should the Teeth Be Pulled? An Analysis of WTO Trade Sanctions," The Political Economy of International Trade Law (Cambridge University Press, 2002).

  • "Comment: Some Key WTO Relationships," summarized in Efficiency, Equity, and Legitimacy: The Multilateral Trading System at the Millennium (Brookings Institution, 2001).

  • "Transnational Civil Society Dialogues" (with Francesca Bignami), in Transatlantic Governance in the Global Economy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001).

  • "The International Labour Organization in its Second Century," Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law (Kluwer Law International, 2000).

  • "Improving the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards," Trade, Environment and the Millennium (United Nations University Press, 1999).

  • "The World Trade Organization and the Environment," Yearbook of International Environmental Law (Oxford University Press, 1997), 1998.

  • "The Role of Trade Measures in Treaties," in Trade and Environment: Bridging the Gap (T.M.C. Asser Instituut, 1998).

  • "Labor and Environmental Issues," in Restarting Fast Track (Institute for International Economics, 1998).

  • "The WTO and the Environment," in Fra GATT til WTO (Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, 1998).

  • "Globalization, Trade, and Interdependence" (with Elizabeth Dowdeswell), in Thinking Ecologically: Building the Next Generation of Environmental Policy (Yale University Press, 1997).

  • "Improving the Trade and Environment Regimes," in Asian Dragons and Green Trade (Times Academic, 1996).

  • "Competitiveness, Harmonization and the Global Ecolonomy," in Agriculture, Trade and the Environment: Discovering and Measuring the Critical Linkages (Westview Press, 1996).

  • "Trade and Environment: The Next Steps," in Trade and Environment: The International Debate (U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, 1994).

  • "Environmental Harmonization and Trade Policy," in Trade and the Environment (Island Press, 1993).

  • "Environmental Trade Measures and Economic Competitiveness: An Overview of the Issues," in Environmental Policies and Industrial Competitiveness (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1993).

  • "Evaluating Sunset Laws. What Will It Mean?," in Contemporary Public Budgeting (Transaction Books, 1981).

International Affairs Journals

  • "The Greening of the WTO," (with Michael Weinstein) Foreign Affairs, November-December 2001.

  • "Promoting Higher Labor Standards," The Washington Quarterly, Summer 1995. Reprinted in New Forces in the World Economy (MIT Press, 1996).

  • "The Influence of International Labour Standards on the World Trading System: A Historical Overview," International Labour Review, September-October 1987.

  • "International Trade and Worker Rights," The Johns Hopkins University SAIS Review, Winter-Spring 1987.

  • "Varieties of Labor Organization," Caribbean Review, Spring 1985.

  • "The Human Rights of Foreign Labor," Worldview, January 1985.

Trade Policy Journals

  • "The World Trade Organization, Meat Hormones, and Food Safety," International Trade Reporter, October 15, 1997. Reprinted in World Food Regulation Review, November 1997.

  • "The Future of Fast Track in U.S. Trade Policy," International Trade Reporter, April 9, 1997.

  • "NGOs and the Original International Trade Regime" (with John Wickham), Journal of World Trade, October 1995.

  • "The World Trade Organization and Social Issues," Journal of World Trade, October 1994.

  • "NAFTA’s Social Dimension: Lessons for the Past and Framework for the Future," International Trade Journal, Spring 1994.

  • "Environmentalism Confronts GATT Rules: Recent Developments and New Opportunities," Journal of World Trade, April 1993.

  • "Exploring the Environmental Exceptions in GATT Article XX," Journal of World Trade, October 1991.

  • "Fair Labor Standards and International Trade," Journal of World Trade Law, January-February 1986.

Environment Journals

  • "The Environmental Significance of the Doha Declaration," Bridges November/December 2001. Reprinted in American Bar Association, International Environmental Law Committee Newsletter, July 2002.

  • "Environmental Sustainability Index Likely to Become Important Management Tool," International Environment Reporter, February 16, 2000.

  • "New WTO Adjudication and its Implications for the Environment," International Environment Reporter, September 18, 1996.

  • "Trade Measures and the Design of International Regimes," Journal of Environment & Development, June 1996. Reprinted in Trade and the Environment: Economic, Legal and Policy Perspectives (Elgar Publishing, 1997).

  • "The WTO Panel Decision on U.S. Clean Air Act Regulations," International Environment Reporter, March 6, 1996.

  • "Regional Trade Agreements and the Environment," Environment, July/August 1995.

  • "Environmental Blindness?", Our Planet, 1995.

  • "Improving Environmental and Trade Governance," International Environmental Affairs, Winter 1995.

  • "The GATT Panel Decision on Automobile Taxes," International Environment Reporter, November 2, 1994.

  • "Encouraging Environmental Cooperation through the Pelly Amendment," Journal of Environment & Development, Winter 1994.

  • "NAFTA’s Environmental Significance," Environment, March 1994.

  • "The World Trade Organization and Environmental Supervision," International Environment Reporter, January 26, 1994.

  • "Trade and Environment: Four Schools of Thought," Ecodecision, January 1994.

  • "The Regulation of Environmental Standards By International Trade Agreements," International Environment Reporter, August 25, 1993. Excerpted in International Environmental Law Anthology (Anderson Publishing, 1996).

  • "GATT and the Environment: Examining the Issues," International Environmental Affairs, Summer 1992. Based on Presentation to the Centre for Trade Policy and Law, May 1992, published in International Trade and Sustainable Development (1995).

  • "Trade Negotiations and the Environment," International Environment Reporter, March 11, 1992.

Economics Journals

  • "The WTO and the Rights of the Individual," Intereconomics, March/April 2001. Reprinted (in Spanish) in Ars Iuris, 2001.

  • "Strengthening the International Employment Regime," Intereconomics, September/October 1995.

  • . "Environmental and Labour Standards in Trade," The World Economy, May 1992.

  • "Trade Links: Labor and the Environment," International Economic Insights, September/October 1991.

  • "Yes, The Bubble Really Exists," Tax Notes, June 18, 1990. Response to Abbin, Tax Notes, July 2, 1990.

  • "Caribbean Basin Initiative: Setting Labor Standards," Monthly Labor Review, November 1984.

Miscellaneous

  • "WTO Salmon Decision May Undermine Health," World Food Regulation Review, December 1998.

  • "Patent Harmonization under World Trade Rules," Journal of World Intellectual Property, January 1998.

  • "Balancing Trade and the Environment," Issues in Science and Technology, Winter 1995-96.

  • "Brobdingnagian Tax Rates Under the Social Security Earnings Test," Benefits Quarterly, First Quarter 1992.

  • "Worker Adjustment: The Missing Ingredient in U.S. Trade Policy," California Management Review, Winter 1986.

  • "Time for a Parliamentary Experiment," Canadian Parliamentary Review, Spring 1985.

  • "The Department of Transportation Bicycle Program," Highway & Urban Mass Transportation, September 1974.

Current Research Projects

Recommended Links

Areas of Interest

Personal Webpage