Most FAA here in the US would readily agree off-record that "controlled rest" is preferable to micro-sleep and fatigue related accidents. But it will never be approved over here - no FAA administrator is willing to sustain the publicity. Imagine the US public finding out that - horrors - pilots are asleep up front, with government's blessing.
Dozza2k - never forget, these limits are SCHEDULED, meaning that you can always go long for delays. I did 22 hours in the right seat of a DC-10 once, Harare - Lagos - Amsterdam - Brussels. All legal as scheduled, but (suprise) we ran long.