I've always been under the impression "repair" brought product back within specifications.
For examples:
small machined parts may have had flaws in the plating process. Often, second party platers will unilaterally determine the flaw exists, strip the plating, and replate before the parts ever leave their premises. Once the parts leave their premises and arrive at a customer, they may be rejected and returned for "repair" which means stripping and replating. This is a relatively common occurrence because some intricate parts may have retained some contaminants during the cleaning process which subsequently interfere with the plating process. Repaired or replated parts are in spec as if the repair had never been done.
If a manufacturer makes a machine and one of the bolts or other fasteners works loose during transit, it can be "repaired" by replacing the fastener with a new one before or after delivery to a customer and such replacement brings the product back into "spec."
In terms of customer approval: normally, approvals are a matter of contract and specific to certain types of products or to government regulation - hence, some products are labeled "remanufactured" rather than marketed as new, first quality, regardless if they had EVER been used prior to the repair and are indistinguishable from new, first quality by normal inspection methods.