It is well established that when steel components are cleaned by Ultra High Pressure Waterjetting (UHP-WJ) the surface begins to oxidize or ‘flash rust’ (FR) within a short period of time. FR has a major impact on subsequent coating application on these components and in most cases only a light FR surface is acceptable. Currently, there is no quantitative or semi-quantitative technique to characterize or categorize the level (or grade) of FR. However, descriptive and visual standards developed by SSPC and NACE are available. These standards are routinely used in the waterjetting industry but they are subjective in nature. Attempts have been made in the past or are presently being made by different entities to come up with a more definitive methodology but with limited success. The present paper discusses the application of electrochemical techniques for characterizing FR surfaces in a quantitative/semi-quantitative manner.