---
kind: "section"
citation: "5 U.S.C. § 3347"
title: "5"
title_heading: "Government Organization and Employees"
number: "3347"
heading: "Exclusivity"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/5/3347"
units:
  - "Part III — Employees"
  - "Subpart B — Employment and Retention"
  - "Chapter 33 — Examination, Selection, and Placement"
  - "Subchapter III — Details, Vacancies, and Appointments"
---

# §3347. Exclusivity

- (a) Sections [3345](/usc/5/3345.md) and [3346](/usc/5/3346.md) are the exclusive means for temporarily authorizing an acting official to perform the functions and duties of any [office](/usc/5/5402.md?p=3) of an [Executive agency](/usc/5/6501.md?p=2) (including the Executive [Office](/usc/5/5402.md?p=3) of the President, and other than the [Government](/usc/5/4101.md?p=3) Accountability [Office](/usc/5/5402.md?p=3)) 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](/usc/5/8401.md?p=7), or the head of an Executive [department](/usc/5/10101.md?p=4), to designate an officer or [employee](/usc/5/4701.md?p=a-2) to perform the functions and duties of a specified [office](/usc/5/5402.md?p=3) temporarily in an acting capacity; or
    - (B) designates an officer or [employee](/usc/5/4701.md?p=a-2) to perform the functions and duties of a specified [office](/usc/5/5402.md?p=3) temporarily in an acting capacity; or
  - (2) the President makes an appointment to fill a vacancy in such [office](/usc/5/5402.md?p=3) during the recess of the Senate pursuant to clause 3 of section 2 of article II of the [United States](/usc/5/7103.md?p=a-18) Constitution.
- (b) Any statutory provision providing general [authority](/usc/5/7103.md?p=a-6) to the head of an [Executive agency](/usc/5/6501.md?p=2) (including the Executive [Office](/usc/5/5402.md?p=3) of the President, and other than the [Government](/usc/5/4101.md?p=3) Accountability [Office](/usc/5/5402.md?p=3)) to delegate duties statutorily vested in that [agency](/usc/5/3132.md?p=a-1) head to, or to reassign duties among, officers or [employees](/usc/5/4701.md?p=a-2) of such [Executive agency](/usc/5/6501.md?p=2), is not a statutory provision to which [subsection (a)(1)](#a-1) applies.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 105–277, div. C, title I, § 151(b), Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–613; amended Pub. L. 106–31, title V, § 5011, May 21, 1999, 113 Stat. 112; Pub. L. 108–271, § 8(b), July 7, 2004, 118 Stat. 814.)

## Notes

### 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.