The European Association of Urology guidelines on prostate cancer state that cryotherapy is a true therapeutic alternative for patients with clinically localized prostate cancer. The aim of this paper is to establish a uniform practice for performing prostate cryoablation. A collaboration has been set up among five European centres with experience in almost 1000 prostate cancer patients on the use of cryotherapy. The present recommendations were developed through sharing of experience and thorough discussions within the group. This first paper from the group establishes the technical recommendations for use of prostate cryotherapy.