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Emyr-
Mainly less authoritative--that a lot of the 1996 reform was retracted again caused a total lack of clarity and, as I said, now many publishers have made up their own rules. As for asserting an authority that they have on paper at least, I don't know what the law is about that in Germany, e.g. whether there are any judicial ways of forcing publishers to adhere to the current 'official' line. It seems that either people think it's not worth the bother, or that the means at their disposal are not very strong. Well, it's only spelling, after all.
Oliver Schick
I would never appeal to that as any authority. :) (I've always avoided learning the 'reforms', as initial reading suggested they were almost all total nonsense. Most have been taken back since 1996 and confusion reigns everywhere in Germany, with lots of publishers simply using their own take on the rules, and as far as I know, following this unmitigated disaster, there is currently no recognised authority on German spelling.)