Yury Rovnov

Yury Rovnov is an international trade law consultant. His main area of expertise is sanitary, veterinary and phytosanitary measures (including the WTO SPS Agreement and the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code).

After graduating summa cum laude from the World Trade Institute’s MILE programme and obtaining a Master’s degree in International Economic Law, with Distinction, from one of Russia’s top universities, Higher School of Economics, Yury worked with the international trade and food law practice of Brussels-based law firm FratiniVergano — European Lawyers.

He then was an international trade lawyer for one of Russia’s two SPS authorities — Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance. During that time, Yury was involved in different stages of some of the high-profile WTO trade disputes, e.g. Russia — Pigs (DS475) and Russia — Transit (DS512), and was part of Russia’s delegation to the meetings of the World Trade Organization’s Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Committee).

Together with his colleague Natalia Chuyko, Yury authored ‘International SPS Law: The Rules for the Application of Sanitary, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Measures’ — the first illustrated Russian-language publication which deals in detail with the rights and obligations of WTO Members under the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) through the prism of Appellate Body and, where absent, panel case law.

Yury has delivered training in the SPS Agreement to government employees and university students. His articles are regularly published in international and Russian academic journals.

In addition to his native Russian, Yury speaks English, French, Spanish and Italian.