The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has urged G20 leaders to keep markets open to trade, following worrying results from a recently released report that the elite group of industrialised nations is increasing protectionist measures.

More new trade restrictive measures have been implemented in the past six months than in any previously reported period, according to a May 24 joint report by the World Trade Organisation, the Organisation on Economic Co-operation and United Nations Committee on Trade and Development.

From October 2010 to April 2011 alone, G20 members implemented 30 new export restrictions, ICC said in a statement yesterday.

“This occurred despite the G20s reaffirmation at the 2010 Seoul Summit to resist protectionism until the end of 2013,” it said.

G20 leaders had agreed early that year, at their Toronto Summit, to withdraw any protectionist measures in the pipeline, including export restrictions and WTO inconsistent measures for stimulating exports. The WTO-OECD-UNCTAD report reveals that the exact opposite is taking place.

The joint report further confirms an ICC-commissioned study from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, which stated that all G20 countries have implemented protectionist trade measures since 2008. G20 countries applied discriminatory measures worth $1.6 trillion, or 10 percent of all world trade, in 2008 alone.

“Given that the results of the WTO-OECD-UNCTAD report are based on self-reporting from G20 countries, and that they most likely reported only what was necessary, we can assume that trade protectionism is actually worse,” said ICC Secretary General Jean-Guy Carrier.

“This worrying trend undermines policies for economic recovery and job creation, at a time when the world economy remains at risk.”

Concerns in the global business community about this protectionist trend have prompted ICC to put into place its own indicator to monitor market openness. The Open Market Index will provide an annual ranking of the 50 top-trading countries by order of their openness to trade and investment, the statement said.

This private sector indicator to monitor protectionism will be launched ahead of the G20 Summit to be held in Cannes, France in November 2011.

“The G20 leaders must come together to ensure the successful conclusion of the Doha Round. This is more critical than ever given that protectionist measures, which they had committed to scaling back, have actually been increasing since the financial crisis began,” said ICC Chairman Gerard Worms.

“A successful conclusion of the Doha Round in 2011 would inject crucial trade growth into the global economy, boosting business confidence and fueling the private investment that is the key to creating jobs,” the ICC statement quoted Worms as saying.

Achieving the Doha Development Agenda will provide the world economy with a debt-free stimulus package, sustaining global economic growth, ICC said. Implementing what is already on the table would generate a $68 billion annual increase in world exports, it said.

But, by some estimates, a final Doha Round agreement could eventually contribute as much as $280 billion annually to global GDP, according to the statement.