An original experimental procedure is proposed to monitor the accelerated corrosion of a reinforcing steel embedded in a cement-based material by impedance spectroscopy. The principle of this procedure is based on the coupling of a constant electric field applied to accelerate the ionic transfer through cement-based material and a sinusoidal potential perturbation imposed to measure the impedance response. Preliminary tests were performed on a three-point configuration measurement using an electric field of 300 V/m typically imposed in electro-diffusion tests. Results highlighted some limitations induced by the strong value of the electric field. Then, an optimization of the procedure is suggested in order to get a convenient accelerated tool for studying the corrosion activity of a reinforcing steel embedded in cement-based materials. C (C) 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.