# GwG Art. 38 — Violation of the audit duty - **Rubric (DE):** Verletzung der Prüfpflicht - **Rubric (EN):** Violation of the audit duty (penalty) - **Status:** In force ## Description Article 38 penalises a dealer's (Händlerin/Händler) breach of the audit duty under Art. 15 GwG — the obligation of dealers subject to the dealer due-diligence duties of Art. 8a (large cash payments) to engage a licensed audit firm to review their compliance with the Chapter 2 duties. Abs. 1: wilful failure to appoint such an audit firm is punishable with a fine (Busse) of up to CHF 100,000. Abs. 2: negligent failure is punishable with a fine of up to CHF 10,000. Like Art. 37, this is a pure-fine contravention with no custodial component. ## Context & interpretation Article 38 is the enforcement backstop for the dealer-specific audit mechanism in Art. 15: because dealers are not prudentially supervised the way banks or FINMA-licensed intermediaries are, Art. 15 substitutes a mandated external audit — the audit firm reports to the dealer's responsible body and must itself report to MROS if the dealer fails to report and the firm itself has reasonable suspicion (Art. 15 Abs. 5). Article 38 gives that structure teeth by fining a dealer who simply never engages an auditor. Together with Art. 37, it is one of only two penal provisions left in Chapter 6 of the GwG. ## Serves AMLR _none_ ## Swiss counterparts - [[GwG Art. 15 - Audit duty for dealers|GwG Art. 15]] — GwG Art. 38 fines a dealer who fails to appoint the audit firm required by Art. 15 (up to CHF 100,000; negligence up to CHF 10,000). *(direct)* ## FATF - [[FATF R.35 - Sanctions|FATF R.35 — Sanctions]] — R.35 requires sanctions for failures to comply with AML/CFT requirements; GwG Art. 38 fines dealers who fail to appoint an audit firm under Art. 15. *(related)* ## Authoritative text > [!quote]- GwG Art. 38 — German original, SR 955.0, consolidated version of 1 October 2026 (Fedlex) > **Art. 38 Verletzung der Prüfpflicht** > 1 Eine Händlerin oder ein Händler, die oder der vorsätzlich die Pflicht nach Artikel 15 verletzt, ein Revisionsunternehmen zu beauftragen, wird mit Busse bis zu 100 000 Franken bestraft. > 2 Handelt sie oder er fahrlässig, so wird sie oder er mit Busse bis zu 10 000 Franken bestraft.