Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting antibodies against bovine leukaemia virus (BLV) were evaluated using a representative sample of 145 serum pools, comprising from 3 to 48 individual sera. The sample was constituted according to the frequency distribution of the negative and positive pools analysed during a screening involving the whole cattle population of Belgium. Sensitivity and specificity were estimated to 88.9% and 100% and the predicted negative and positive values were 99.9% and 100%, respectively. These results indicate the use of serum pools is suitable for the detection of BLV infected herds in eradication campaigns.