Light plays a fundamental role in the development of higher plants. It influences the activity of many genes and is sensed through at least three different photoreceptor systems (phytochromes, blue/UV‐A‐ and UV‐B photoreceptors). In contrast to UV‐B and blue/UV‐A photoreceptors, phytochromes absorb both in the long‐wavelength (red and far‐red) and short‐wavelength region of light, making it extremely difficult to differentiate the exact function of different photoreceptors in the blue/UV region. The availability of phytochrome mutants in combination with a transgenic approach has enabled clarification of the question whether or not phytochromes are a prerequisite for the action of blue/UV‐A photoreceptors on gene expression. This paper reports that the light‐responsive element of a gene encoding chalcone synthase, the key enzyme of the flavonoid pathway, mediates blue‐ and UV‐A‐induced transcription in the absence of phytochrome A and phytochrome B.