The practical implementation of epidemiological surveillance programmes for rinderpest prescribed by the standards of the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) is described. The rationale of surveillance is discussed in relation to the stages of disease control, discontinuation of vaccination, clinical surveillance and serological surveillance. These stages lead to provisional and confirmed declarations of freedom from disease, and the confirmed declaration of freedom from infection. Practical methods of stratification of livestock populations, and selection of samples of herds and animals within selected herds are explained. The actions to follow any discovery of disease, or any clinical or serological signs of disease, are discussed. In the serological surveillance stage, balancing the number of herds and the number of animals within selected herds tested can result in considerable reduction in the overall number of serum samples to be tested. The methods used in rinderpest surveillance can readily be adapted to surveillance programmes for other diseases.