gap report
gap report. In the making of federal court rules, a report that explains any changes made by an advisory com-mittee in the language of a proposed amendment to a procedural rule after its publication for comment. • Before advisory committees began issuing gap reports in the early 1980s, there were complaints that the public record did not show why changes were made after the public-comment period. The five advisory committees — for appellate, bankruptcy, civil, criminal, and evidence rules — therefore began filing the reports to fill in the “gaps” in the record. Although the phrase is sometimes written in capital letters (GAP report), it is not an acronym.
