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Title 5, Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-102

§3347 Exclusivity

Title 5 › PART III — EMPLOYEES › Subpart B — Employment and Retention › CHAPTER 33 — EXAMINATION, SELECTION, AND PLACEMENT › SUBCHAPTER III — DETAILS, VACANCIES, AND APPOINTMENTS › § 3347

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Sections 3345 and 3346 make the only legal ways to let someone temporarily do the work of an Executive agency job that normally must be filled by a President appointment with Senate approval. This covers the Executive Office of the President but not the Government Accountability Office. The exception is when a law clearly allows the President, a court, or an agency head to name a temporary acting officer, or when the President gives a recess appointment under clause 3 of section 2 of article II. A general law that just lets an agency head reassign or delegate duties does not count as that kind of special law.

Full Legal Text

Title 5, §3347

Government Organization and Employees, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)section 3345 and 3346 are the exclusive means for temporarily authorizing an acting official to perform the functions and duties of any office of an Executive agency (including the Executive Office of the President, and other than the Government Accountability Office) for which appointment is required to be made by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, unless—
(1)a statutory provision expressly—
(A)authorizes the President, a court, or the head of an Executive department, to designate an officer or employee to perform the functions and duties of a specified office temporarily in an acting capacity; or
(B)designates an officer or employee to perform the functions and duties of a specified office temporarily in an acting capacity; or
(2)the President makes an appointment to fill a vacancy in such office during the recess of the Senate pursuant to clause 3 of section 2 of article II of the United States Constitution.
(b)Any statutory provision providing general authority to the head of an Executive agency (including the Executive Office of the President, and other than the Government Accountability Office) to delegate duties statutorily vested in that agency head to, or to reassign duties among, officers or employees of such Executive agency, is not a statutory provision to which subsection (a)(1) applies.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 3347, Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 426, provided for Presidential authority relating to details, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 105–277, div. C, title I, § 151(b), (d)(1), Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–611, 2681–616, effective 30 days after Oct. 21, 1998. See section 3345 of this title.

Amendments

2004—Pub. L. 108–271 substituted “Government Accountability Office” for “General Accounting Office” in introductory provisions of subsec. (a) and in subsec. (b). 1999—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 106–31 substituted “subsection (a)(1)” for “subsection (a)(2)”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective 30 days after Oct. 21, 1998, and applicable to any office that becomes vacant after such

Effective Date

, with certain exceptions, see section 151(d) of Pub. L. 105–277, set out as a note under section 3345 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

5 U.S.C. § 3347

Title 5, Government Organization and Employees

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102