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A new property VAT regime coming into force on 1st April, 1989, is expected to have a major impact on commercial property development and management. The Government proposes to change the VAT rules relating to commercial property in the 1989 Finance Bill following a judgment in the European Court of Justice (on 21st June) that certain UK VAT rules were inconsistent with European Law. Although the broad outlines of the new rules are fairly clear much detail remains to be defined. A consultation process will be followed (in December) by draft legislation. Until then the final details of the new rules remain a matter for speculation. The VAT rules relating to residential property will remain largely unchanged. The main changes for commercial property can be summarised as follows:

Discusses the changes in UK tax legislation concerning VAT and the property and construction industry, specifically the ruling that the zero rating of certain supplies in the industry was not permitted under EC law. Concludes that knowledge of the new legislation is important to those involved in the property industry, and that it should be studied carefully; although definitions of what may be zero‐rated and what constitutes a new building have clarified most issues.

The Amelia Frances Howard‐Gibbon medal of the Canadian Library Association, established in 1971 to honour outstanding illustrators of Canadian children's books, has been awarded this year to William Kurelek for A Prairie Boy's Summer, published in Montreal by Tundra Books. Kurelek was born near Whitford in Alberta but spent most of his early life in a Ukrainian farming community in Manitoba and his illustrations vividly capture life on a prairie farm in the '30s.