  In this paper, we show that the eccentricity of a planet on an inclined orbit
with respect to a disc can be pumped up to high values by the gravitational
potential of the disc, even when the orbit of the planet crosses the disc
plane. This process is an extension of the Kozai effect. If the orbit of the
planet is well inside the disc inner cavity, the process is formally identical
to the classical Kozai effect. If the planet's orbit crosses the disc but most
of the disc mass is beyond the orbit, the eccentricity of the planet grows when
the initial angle between the orbit and the disc is larger than some critical
value which may be significantly smaller than the classical value of 39
degrees. Both the eccentricity and the inclination angle then vary periodically
with time. When the period of the oscillations of the eccentricity is smaller
than the disc lifetime, the planet may be left on an eccentric orbit as the
disc dissipates.
