The "Vietnam Human Rights Act" seeks to embed human rights concerns across all official interactions between the United States and Vietnam, asserting that concrete human rights improvements are integral to trade, security, and economic development. Despite significant economic growth and trade, the bill notes a lack of progress in political freedom and basic human rights in Vietnam, which remains an authoritarian state.

The legislation mandates the assessment of Vietnam's labor rights progress and calls for its ratification of key International Labour Organization conventions. It also aims to bar imports from Vietnam made with forced labor from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and protect U.S. nationals and businesses from Vietnamese cyber-espionage and transnational repression.

A key provision establishes a policy for imposing sanctions on Vietnamese officials and foreign persons responsible for arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, significant corruption, online censorship, or severe religious freedom violations. These sanctions would utilize existing frameworks like the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act.

To combat online censorship and surveillance, the bill declares a policy to promote an open and free internet in Vietnam, pressuring the Vietnamese government to halt requests for social media companies to disclose user identities or block content. It authorizes the Secretary of State to prioritize the distribution of censorship circumvention tools and projects to ensure the safety and privacy of bloggers, journalists, and human rights defenders in Vietnam.

Regarding international religious freedom, the bill expresses a Sense of Congress that Vietnam should be designated as a "country of particular concern" for religious freedom due to systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations. Finally, the Act amends existing law to require annual reports on U.S.-Vietnam human rights dialogue meetings to include specific issues such as torture, police brutality, property expropriation, and internet freedom for bloggers and journalists.