---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 801"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "801"
heading: "Transfer of license; obligations of transferee"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/801"
units:
  - "Chapter 12 — Federal Regulation and Development of Power"
  - "Subchapter I — Regulation of the Development of Water Power and Resources"
---

# §801. Transfer of license; obligations of transferee


No voluntary transfer of any license, or of the rights thereunder granted, shall be made without the written approval of the [commission](/usc/16/544.md?p=c); and any successor or assign of the rights of such [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5), whether by voluntary transfer, judicial sale, foreclosure sale, or otherwise, shall be subject to all the conditions of the license under which such rights are held by such [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5) and also subject to all the provisions and conditions of this chapter to the same extent as though such successor or assign were the original [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5) under this chapter: Provided, That a mortgage or [trust](/usc/16/450ss–1.md?p=4) deed or judicial sales made thereunder or under tax sales shall not be deemed voluntary transfers within the meaning of this section.


## Source credit

(June 10, 1920, ch. 285, pt. I, § 8, 41 Stat. 1068; renumbered pt. I, Aug. 26, 1935, ch. 687, title II, § 212, 49 Stat. 847.)