TASMANIA'S upper house is calling for a ban on cigarette sales to anyone born after the year 2000.

The state's legislative council has unanimously backed a motion that would effectively start phasing out tobacco sales from 2018, the ABC has reported.

The ban would begin taking effect once people born in 2000 turned 18.

Independent MP Ivan Dean said the move would stop young people from taking up the habit.

"This would mean that we would have a generation of people not exposed to tobacco products," he said.

The move comes less than a week after the High Court ruled in favour of the federal government's introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes.

Tasmanian health minister Michelle O'Byrne has asked the state's Commissioner for Children to look at the proposal, the report said.

Tasmania has the highest rates of smoking in Australia.

Originally published as Tassie moves to phase out ciggie sales