"Luke's attitude and leadership have been outstanding during his career at the Dragons," said Head Coach Darren Edwards.
"He has a fantastic work ethic and the respect of the whole camp.
"Luke's position here was secured before the Welsh squad for the World Cup was announced. Although he is going to be absent for the first few weeks of the season, we were confident that he is the man for the job and are delighted that he will be leading the Dragons this season.
"We have several players who have over the last 2 seasons shown their qualities by captaining the side in the absence of senior players and they have all stepped up to the mark exceptionally well so I don't feel that we will in any way lack leadership whilst Luke is at the World Cup.
In Luke's absence, Dragons hooker Tom Willis will captain the region with the coaching team taking the opportunity for players to test out their leadership skills on a match-by-match basis.
"I'm honoured to have been appointed as captain of the Dragons," said Charteris. "I know I'll be away for the first few weeks of the season but having attended the Leeds friendly I know that they are going to be just fine without me!
"It's a great group of players and I'm really looking forward to re-joining the boys for what promises to be a fantastic season"