diff --git a/pkg/autodiscover/autodiscover.go b/pkg/autodiscover/autodiscover.go
index 32ae2a38a..e9f2b324b 100644
--- a/pkg/autodiscover/autodiscover.go
+++ b/pkg/autodiscover/autodiscover.go
@@ -102,16 +102,6 @@ type labelObject struct {
 
 var data = DiscoveredTestData{}
 
-func warnDeprecation(config *configuration.TestConfiguration) {
-	if len(config.OperatorsUnderTestLabels) == 0 {
-		log.Warn("DEPRECATED: deprecated default operator label in use ( %s:%s ) is about to be obsolete. Please use the new \"operatorsUnderTestLabels\" field to specify operators labels instead.",
-			deprecatedHardcodedOperatorLabelName, deprecatedHardcodedOperatorLabelValue)
-	}
-	if len(config.PodsUnderTestLabels) == 0 {
-		log.Warn("No Pod under test labels configured. Tests on pods and containers will not run. Please use the \"podsUnderTestLabels\" field to specify labels for pods under test")
-	}
-}
-
 const labelRegex = `(\S*)\s*:\s*(\S*)`
 const labelRegexMatches = 3
 
@@ -148,11 +138,6 @@ func DoAutoDiscover(config *configuration.TestConfiguration) DiscoveredTestData
 	podsUnderTestLabelsObjects := createLabels(config.PodsUnderTestLabels)
 	operatorsUnderTestLabelsObjects := createLabels(config.OperatorsUnderTestLabels)
 
-	// prints warning about deprecated labels
-	warnDeprecation(config)
-	// adds DEPRECATED hardcoded operator label
-	operatorsUnderTestLabelsObjects = append(operatorsUnderTestLabelsObjects, labelObject{LabelKey: deprecatedHardcodedOperatorLabelName, LabelValue: deprecatedHardcodedOperatorLabelValue})
-
 	log.Info("parsed pods under test labels: %+v", podsUnderTestLabelsObjects)
 	log.Info("parsed operators under test labels: %+v", operatorsUnderTestLabelsObjects)
 
diff --git a/pkg/autodiscover/autodiscover_operators.go b/pkg/autodiscover/autodiscover_operators.go
index c1b005649..1c2837252 100644
--- a/pkg/autodiscover/autodiscover_operators.go
+++ b/pkg/autodiscover/autodiscover_operators.go
@@ -68,11 +68,7 @@ func findOperatorsByLabel(olmClient clientOlm.Interface, labels []labelObject, n
 	for _, ns := range namespaces {
 		log.Debug("Searching CSVs in namespace %s", ns)
 		for _, aLabelObject := range labels {
-			label := aLabelObject.LabelKey
-			// DEPRECATED special processing for deprecated operator label. Value not needed to match.
-			if aLabelObject.LabelKey != deprecatedHardcodedOperatorLabelName {
-				label += "=" + aLabelObject.LabelValue
-			}
+			label := aLabelObject.LabelKey + "=" + aLabelObject.LabelValue
 			log.Debug("Searching CSVs with label %s", label)
 			csvList, err := olmClient.OperatorsV1alpha1().ClusterServiceVersions(ns.Name).List(context.TODO(), metav1.ListOptions{
 				LabelSelector: label,
diff --git a/pkg/autodiscover/constants.go b/pkg/autodiscover/constants.go
index 863b6eecc..085f55b4a 100644
--- a/pkg/autodiscover/constants.go
+++ b/pkg/autodiscover/constants.go
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@
 package autodiscover
 
 const (
-	deprecatedHardcodedOperatorLabelName  = "test-network-function.com/operator"
-	deprecatedHardcodedOperatorLabelValue = ""
-	debugHelperPodsLabelName              = "test-network-function.com/app"
-	debugHelperPodsLabelValue             = "tnf-debug"
+	debugHelperPodsLabelName  = "test-network-function.com/app"
+	debugHelperPodsLabelValue = "tnf-debug"
 )