The past decade has been an exciting period for foot and mouth disease (FMD) control and elimination efforts. The progressive control pathway for FMD (PCP-FMD) was developed to provide a novel stepwise methodology for a risk management and cost effective approach to FMD control. These guidelines are designed to guide and assess national or sub-national vaccination programmes at various stages of PCP-FMD; and can be equally helpful for regaining FMD free status following the incursion of FMD virus in previously free countries or those where vaccination is to be discontinued.