As the HIV/AIDS epidemic imposes an ever-larger burden globally, surveillance for HIV becomes more critical in order to understand the trends of the epidemic and make sound decisions on how best to respond to it. These guidelines suggest methods for selecting, evaluating and implementing HIV testing technologies and strategies based on a country’s laboratory infrastructure and surveillance needs. The guidelines provide recommendations for specimen selection, collection, storage and testing, and for the selection and evaluation of appropriate HIV testing strategies and technologies to meet surveillance objectives. Quality assurance issues are also addressed.