A national emission standard has been adopted for thermal power plants (MNS 6298:2011). In practice, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism does not issue permits for air pollution and payments for emission of air pollutants are not paid by major emission sources, such as thermal power plants, given that appropriate instruments for measuring and monitoring the emissions are lacking (chapter 3). For drilling a borehole or digging a well or channel, the prospective water user must submit an application to the aimag (or capital city) environmental authority', which registers the well or borehole and issues the permit. In January 2017, EITI Mongolia passed its international validation but was given one year to satisfy certain requirements that were deemed unsatisfactory, notably on data quality and assurance. Nonetheless, EITI Mongolia is an important and independent source of information and provides a degree of transparency in a sector in which public confidence is lacking.