Key facts
The Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) conducted a follow-up audit at the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS) on the implementation of the key recommendations dating back to 2019. The report featured four recommendations related to statistics, risk analysis and the monitoring of assayers/melters by the Central Office for Precious Metals Control. The FOCBS accepted all of these.
Precious Metals Control (PMC) checks the trade in precious metals (gold, silver, platinum and palladium) and hallmarks precious metal articles (jewellery and watches). The Operations Directorate’s customs offices and PMC monitor precious metals imports. Together, they ensure compliance with customs tariffs and the Federal Precious Metals Control Act (PMCA). In 2023, imports of “raw gold” (i.e. unwrought gold) reached CHF 91.9 billion, accounting for 28% of the total value of goods imports. This gold coming into Switzerland is exempt from customs duties and VAT. PMC’s checks focus on precious metal articles, whose import value totalled CHF 8.5 billion in 2023.
PMC monitoring of assayers/melters is carried out when issuing and renewing their authorisations and when performing on-site inspections. The Central Office has been monitoring financial intermediaries trading in precious metals since 2023, under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA). The project for digitalising the FOCBS’s processes, called DaziT, started in 2020. It involves a revision of the Customs Act, which aims to simplify and standardise the execution of other legislative acts such as the PMCA.