BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission issued on Tuesday a fine amounting to about 458 million euros ($494.64 million) to 15 major car manufacturers and the European Automobiles Manufacturers' Association for participating in a cartel regarding end-of-life vehicle recycling.

End-of-life vehicle recycling is when cars are dismantled and processed for recycling and disposal once they are no longer fit for use.

The Commission said that over a 15 years span, 16 car manufacturers, including Toyota ( TM ), Volkswagen and BMW, and the ACEA entered into anticompetitive agreements and engaged in concerted practices related to the recycling of the cars.

Mercedes-Benz, which also participated, was not fined because it revealed the cartel to the commission under the leniency programme.

In 2022 EU antitrust regulators raided several automotive companies and associations on suspicion of breaching the bloc's cartel rules.

($1 = 0.9259 euros)

(This story has been corrected to fix the date of the EU raid to 2022, not last month, in paragraph 5)