What legal effect do the Commission's Article 50 guidelines claim, and what does the signatory table show for audio-capable providers?

Partially verified: the curator re-read S8; S10, S9 were not re-read by the curator and rest on the producer's pinned reading. The Commission's Article 50 guidelines (2026-07-20) are non-binding and treat an adequate code of practice as a predictable way to demonstrate compliance and a possible fine-mitigating factor, not a substitute for the Act. Curator qualifications: Partially verified: the curator re-read S8; S10, S9 were not re-read by the curator and rest on the producer's pinned reading. Curator GET 2026-10-23 of the sources not re-read (mechanical source evidence, not semantic verification): S10: HTTP 200, bytes equal to the producer pin; S9: HTTP 200, bytes equal to the producer pin. Documents read 2026-10-22; not legal advice; no software run. Curator addition (media scope, source_statement, same document): synthetic audio including instrumental music and 3-D/VR/AR outputs fall under Article 50(2) marking, but meshes and point clouds used to make them need no marking; a rendered frame from simple processing and ranking-only playlists are out of scope; real-time ephemeral game/VR content may be exempt if marking is infeasible and users are told; the guidelines list non-semantic edits (format conversion, noise reduction, dynamic range compression/EQ, colour/contrast, aspect-ratio pixel fill, transition clips) that need no marking and semantic changes (realistic speech in a specific person's voice, meaning-changing object/person insertion or removal, face replacement) that do; deep fakes in evidently artistic works (music, cinematographic works, visual arts) keep an attenuated, non-hampering disclosure duty plus third-party safeguards. Signatory snapshot claims (F2; S9/S10 archived pages, 95/192 counts and named vendors) not re-read; vendor roles not established. Guideline interpretation is non-binding; national enforcement not examined. Limitations: Documents read 2026-10-22; not legal advice; no software run. Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "http://web.archive.org/web/20261014231148id_/https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/strong-backing-code-practice-transparency-ai-generated-content",
      "note": "Guidelines on Article 50 AI Act (annex to C(2026) 5054 final; bytes equal pin), paras (2), (3), (5); same, Section 8.1 paras (146)-(150); same, paras (60)-(65), (88), examples list before (93), and paras (119)-(124)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/redirection/document/131215",
      "note": "Guidelines on Article 50 AI Act (annex to C(2026) 5054 final; bytes equal pin), paras (2), (3), (5); same, Section 8.1 paras (146)-(150); same, paras (60)-(65), (88), examples list before (93), and paras (119)-(124)"
    },
    {
      "url": "http://web.archive.org/web/20261020083634id_/https:/digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/code-practice-ai-generated-content",
      "note": "cited at http://web.archive.org/web/20261020083634id_/https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/code-practice-ai-generated-content; Guidelines on Article 50 AI Act (annex to C(2026) 5054 final; bytes equal pin), paras (2), (3), (5); same, Section 8.1 paras (146)-(150); same, paras (60)-(65), (88), examples list before (93), and paras (119)-(124)"
    },
    {
      "url": "http://web.archive.org/web/20261020083634id_/https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/code-practice-ai-generated-content",
      "note": "observed URL (dated/alias form of the cited catalogue source; canonical identity retained)"
    }
  ]
}