Frankfurter Buchmesse 2026: EU AI Act Gives Publishers Leverage, but No Teeth - Publishing Perspectives

The report, published by Publishing Perspectives, carries the headline 'Frankfurter Buchmesse 2026: EU AI Act Gives Publishers Leverage, but No Teeth.' It covers remarks made at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2026 by Elizabeth Crossick of RELX. Crossick described the EU AI Act as market-access legislation built on risk tiers. The article's subject is the AI Act's effect on publishers.

She said the Act requires transparency on training data and labeling of AI-generated content. Crossick also cited the Frankfurt Appeal, in which publishers ask policymakers to make existing rules effective before adding new ones. According to the report, the request is directed at enforcing rules that already exist rather than creating additional ones. The Frankfurt Appeal is presented in the report as the document carrying the publishers' request to policymakers. No signatories, timelines, or specific enforcement mechanisms for the appeal are named in the report.

The headline states that the EU AI Act gives publishers leverage but no teeth, framing the legislation's effect in terms of negotiating position rather than enforcement capacity. The description of the Act as market-access legislation built on risk tiers comes from Crossick's remarks at the fair, as reported. The two elements of the Act that she identified are transparency on training data and labeling of AI-generated content. The article frames the appeal's request as one of making existing rules effective, rather than of adding new rules.