diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 14bdd93a0..7b94f792e 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -60,7 +60,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/shurcooL/httpfs v0.0.0-20230704072500-f1e31cf0ba5c
 	github.com/stretchr/testify v1.9.0
 	github.com/vultr/govultr/v2 v2.17.2
-	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/featuregate v1.5.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/pdata v1.5.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/semconv v0.98.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp v0.50.0
@@ -151,7 +150,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror v1.1.1 // indirect
 	github.com/hashicorp/go-retryablehttp v0.7.4 // indirect
 	github.com/hashicorp/go-rootcerts v1.0.2 // indirect
-	github.com/hashicorp/go-version v1.6.0 // indirect
 	github.com/hashicorp/golang-lru v0.6.0 // indirect
 	github.com/hashicorp/serf v0.10.1 // indirect
 	github.com/imdario/mergo v0.3.16 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 2272c6176..d030a96c4 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -722,8 +722,6 @@ go.opencensus.io v0.22.3/go.mod h1:yxeiOL68Rb0Xd1ddK5vPZ/oVn4vY4Ynel7k9FzqtOIw=
 go.opencensus.io v0.22.4/go.mod h1:yxeiOL68Rb0Xd1ddK5vPZ/oVn4vY4Ynel7k9FzqtOIw=
 go.opencensus.io v0.24.0 h1:y73uSU6J157QMP2kn2r30vwW1A2W2WFwSCGnAVxeaD0=
 go.opencensus.io v0.24.0/go.mod h1:vNK8G9p7aAivkbmorf4v+7Hgx+Zs0yY+0fOtgBfjQKo=
-go.opentelemetry.io/collector/featuregate v1.5.0 h1:uK8qnYQKz1TMkK+FDTFsywg/EybW/gbnOUaPNUkRznM=
-go.opentelemetry.io/collector/featuregate v1.5.0/go.mod h1:w7nUODKxEi3FLf1HslCiE6YWtMtOOrMnSwsDam8Mg9w=
 go.opentelemetry.io/collector/pdata v1.5.0 h1:1fKTmUpr0xCOhP/B0VEvtz7bYPQ45luQ8XFyA07j8LE=
 go.opentelemetry.io/collector/pdata v1.5.0/go.mod h1:TYj8aKRWZyT/KuKQXKyqSEvK/GV+slFaDMEI+Ke64Yw=
 go.opentelemetry.io/collector/semconv v0.98.0 h1:zO4L4TmlxXoYu8UgPeYElGY19BW7wPjM+quL5CzoOoY=
diff --git a/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_label.go b/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_label.go
index 4f9942bd1..6360aa976 100644
--- a/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_label.go
+++ b/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_label.go
@@ -19,15 +19,6 @@ package prometheus
 import (
 	"strings"
 	"unicode"
-
-	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/featuregate"
-)
-
-var dropSanitizationGate = featuregate.GlobalRegistry().MustRegister(
-	"pkg.translator.prometheus.PermissiveLabelSanitization",
-	featuregate.StageAlpha,
-	featuregate.WithRegisterDescription("Controls whether to change labels starting with '_' to 'key_'."),
-	featuregate.WithRegisterReferenceURL("https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/issues/8950"),
 )
 
 // Normalizes the specified label to follow Prometheus label names standard
@@ -50,7 +41,7 @@ func NormalizeLabel(label string) string {
 	// If label starts with a number, prepend with "key_"
 	if unicode.IsDigit(rune(label[0])) {
 		label = "key_" + label
-	} else if strings.HasPrefix(label, "_") && !strings.HasPrefix(label, "__") && !dropSanitizationGate.IsEnabled() {
+	} else if strings.HasPrefix(label, "_") && !strings.HasPrefix(label, "__") {
 		label = "key" + label
 	}
 
diff --git a/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_name.go b/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_name.go
index 6cb4fc199..4cf36671a 100644
--- a/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_name.go
+++ b/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_name.go
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"unicode"
 
-	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/featuregate"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/pdata/pmetric"
 )
 
@@ -78,13 +77,6 @@ var perUnitMap = map[string]string{
 	"y":  "year",
 }
 
-var normalizeNameGate = featuregate.GlobalRegistry().MustRegister(
-	"pkg.translator.prometheus.NormalizeName",
-	featuregate.StageBeta,
-	featuregate.WithRegisterDescription("Controls whether metrics names are automatically normalized to follow Prometheus naming convention"),
-	featuregate.WithRegisterReferenceURL("https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/issues/8950"),
-)
-
 // BuildCompliantName builds a Prometheus-compliant metric name for the specified metric
 //
 // Metric name is prefixed with specified namespace and underscore (if any).
@@ -97,7 +89,7 @@ func BuildCompliantName(metric pmetric.Metric, namespace string, addMetricSuffix
 	var metricName string
 
 	// Full normalization following standard Prometheus naming conventions
-	if addMetricSuffixes && normalizeNameGate.IsEnabled() {
+	if addMetricSuffixes {
 		return normalizeName(metric, namespace)
 	}