The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration granted a rest-break exemption from the hours-of-service rules to carriers serving the Department of Defense.

The agency said that carriers serving the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command are exempted from the 30-minute break requirement. The exemption began Oct. 22 and lasts until Oct. 21, 2015.

This gives contract carriers that haul weapons, munitions and classified cargo the same flexibility that explosives haulers have, the agency said.

The exempted drivers may use 30 minutes or more of attendance time to meet hours-of-service rest break requirements, as long as they don’t do any other work during the break, the agency said.

In a related development, the agency published formal notice of its earlier decision to exempt short-haul operations from the 30-minute break requirement.